I have a bad habit. I spend copious amounts of time reading and thinking about Shadowrun, but have no group to play with here in Sydney. I've tried PBP games before, but they've always seemed to peter out due to large groups and disparate posting rates.
I would of course love to play with any of the many characters I've conceived, but that declaration isn't worth a whole thread, so I'm putting my hand up as a GM. As referenced in the thread title, I'm looking for two players. I'm likely to favour a pair of posters who are familiar with eachother in regards to Shadowrun, but particularly I'm looking for people with well-developed characters with forseeable story arcs, and an idea of the gameworld they'd like to play in.
I'm hoping a two player team can keep the game dynamic and story focused, but without so much dead weight that the game stagnates. Of course the relationship between the two characters will feature strongly, so it's advised that we discuss common threads and plot hooks, while still keeping secrets to be revealed.
The other issue at hand is the theme and scope of the game. I've read the Shadowrun material extensively, so if it piques my interest, I'm capable of running the campaign nearly anywhere. Given the small team, I want to be generous with the build rules, something like 1000 Karma, so you can have your chunky specialist dicepool but still be a capable, well rounded specialist with developed background skills and contacts.
Before I set my mind on anything though, I'm putting it out there for suggestions and expressions of interest. Just let me know what sort of game you'd like to play, from character to setting to theme, and also, what sort of character you'd like to play alongside.
Full Version: I'll take two
I'd be very interested in this, particularly in a game that focuses on runners (the game I'm running is very milspec based and the one I'm currently playing is high end magic stuff - both great but occasionally miss the roots 
)
Seattle is a good location as there's lots of source material but I've also had a good game or two in the UK (where I'm from) and the dark dystopian feel appeals! Contrasts well with my optimistic streak - my characters tend to be more 'Robin Hood' than 'Evil Mafia', and more mirror shades than mohawk...that's not to say I haven't worked alongside psychos but it's never an easy alliance
Plenty of character concepts on the go but location is a factor (I like to link the games I'm running/playing together with mutual contacts etc...)
)Seattle is a good location as there's lots of source material but I've also had a good game or two in the UK (where I'm from) and the dark dystopian feel appeals! Contrasts well with my optimistic streak - my characters tend to be more 'Robin Hood' than 'Evil Mafia', and more mirror shades than mohawk...that's not to say I haven't worked alongside psychos but it's never an easy alliance
Plenty of character concepts on the go but location is a factor (I like to link the games I'm running/playing together with mutual contacts etc...)
This does, indeed, sound quite intriguing. So, let me voice my interest, too.
Seattle is always good (big, diverse place, and well-documented).
Ditto that.
As for characters, I would think that versatile characters would be good, no super specialists, who can only do one thing.
I would probably either make a Combat Hacker (who is also capable in ranged combat; for this I could use a character as a foundation (and then rebuild, of course), that I have from another game that went dormant quickly after it began, because the GM vanished (here's a link to the old character sheet, if you are curious)) or a Mystic Adept (close combat, athletics, stealth, diverse spell list (would have to make this one completely from scratch)). Either would probably have at least some social skills as well (with the higher starting karma, that should be doable).
Bye
Thanee
P.S. @Aria: I've seen your latest thread, too, and actually pondered to chime in, but it is a little too "over the top" for my taste.
Seattle is always good (big, diverse place, and well-documented).
QUOTE
my characters tend to be more 'Robin Hood' than 'Evil Mafia', and more mirror shades than mohawk
Ditto that.
As for characters, I would think that versatile characters would be good, no super specialists, who can only do one thing.
I would probably either make a Combat Hacker (who is also capable in ranged combat; for this I could use a character as a foundation (and then rebuild, of course), that I have from another game that went dormant quickly after it began, because the GM vanished (here's a link to the old character sheet, if you are curious)) or a Mystic Adept (close combat, athletics, stealth, diverse spell list (would have to make this one completely from scratch)). Either would probably have at least some social skills as well (with the higher starting karma, that should be doable).
Bye
Thanee
P.S. @Aria: I've seen your latest thread, too, and actually pondered to chime in, but it is a little too "over the top" for my taste.
Blame the films/books I've seen recently I have more subtle offerings planned for later on!
Quick edit - it's always nice to feel we're part of bigger events (even if the characters don't know it!!!)
I have more subtle offerings planned for later on!Quick edit - it's always nice to feel we're part of bigger events (even if the characters don't know it!!!)
I'd like to propose my borderline-geriatric ex-wage mage. Ignore the build, I'll recreate him for 1000-point karmagen if accepted.
That reminds me, have you guys got links to any threads you're playing in?
The mystic adept idea works because they can cover multiple areas decently, but they are karma sinks, even to build, but 1000 karma should sort that, and if you like you can purchase initiation with starting karma.
But character build is of course secondary, I need justification for the characters place in the world. More than just where they come from, where they learned there skills and which benefactor copped the price tag for their ware. They need something that drives them to continue, and something to run from, that keeps them from relaxing, stagnating and ending up in a bath-tub of sulphuric acid.
Moving to the robin hood idea, if you're familiar with Loose Alliances, groups like the Anarchist Black Cross and Anarchist Black Crescent provide pro-bono corporate extraction, legal and medical service for SINless individuals, smuggling essential supplies to circumvent corporate sanctions as well as countless community-building endeavours. I like the idea of shadowrunners juggling their financial needs with moral imperatives, and the places where they contradict. Not to mention the stark difference between working for a corporate johnson, having vehicles, equipment, contacts and perks provided and then coming home to a paycheck of a clean million, and running interference against a MET2000 company with little more than your goodwill and what you brought in that dufflebag.
Seattle works as a jumping off point, I suppose. I'm not so crazy about it, I mean, I can write an atmospheric dive bar, an unscrupulous street gang or a Machiavellian stockbroker into many settings, but I suppose there is material in Seattle to work with, such as Knight Errant usurping the Star's Seattle contract. Even if the campaign is based in Seattle, it'd be good to take a worldly view for contacts, including the rules in Runners Companion for group contacts. After all, the matrix (and even astral projection) allow characters to be useful and available nearly anywhere in the world.
The UK is hard. I have little to no idea about how to represent the druidic movement, or what exactly the lord protector's office is or does. If you'd like to offer up a character who is British, Irish, Welsh, Scottish... have I missed any? Then I'm sure I'd get a picture from your exposition.
The mystic adept idea works because they can cover multiple areas decently, but they are karma sinks, even to build, but 1000 karma should sort that, and if you like you can purchase initiation with starting karma.
But character build is of course secondary, I need justification for the characters place in the world. More than just where they come from, where they learned there skills and which benefactor copped the price tag for their ware. They need something that drives them to continue, and something to run from, that keeps them from relaxing, stagnating and ending up in a bath-tub of sulphuric acid.
Moving to the robin hood idea, if you're familiar with Loose Alliances, groups like the Anarchist Black Cross and Anarchist Black Crescent provide pro-bono corporate extraction, legal and medical service for SINless individuals, smuggling essential supplies to circumvent corporate sanctions as well as countless community-building endeavours. I like the idea of shadowrunners juggling their financial needs with moral imperatives, and the places where they contradict. Not to mention the stark difference between working for a corporate johnson, having vehicles, equipment, contacts and perks provided and then coming home to a paycheck of a clean million, and running interference against a MET2000 company with little more than your goodwill and what you brought in that dufflebag.
Seattle works as a jumping off point, I suppose. I'm not so crazy about it, I mean, I can write an atmospheric dive bar, an unscrupulous street gang or a Machiavellian stockbroker into many settings, but I suppose there is material in Seattle to work with, such as Knight Errant usurping the Star's Seattle contract. Even if the campaign is based in Seattle, it'd be good to take a worldly view for contacts, including the rules in Runners Companion for group contacts. After all, the matrix (and even astral projection) allow characters to be useful and available nearly anywhere in the world.
The UK is hard. I have little to no idea about how to represent the druidic movement, or what exactly the lord protector's office is or does. If you'd like to offer up a character who is British, Irish, Welsh, Scottish... have I missed any? Then I'm sure I'd get a picture from your exposition.
My sig has links to my current games and some of the characters I've played as examples... will try and post something tomorrow...
I'm playing the techpriest Zacharias Hakkonen in LurkerOutThere's Rogue Trader game Blood & Bolters, and played (until the game's unfortunate dissolution) the city shaman Glass Walker in Belvidere's Chicago-based SR game Let's Get Gritty.
This is reallllly interesting. If you haven't closed off recruitment yet, I might sent something your way.
You know when you type an extensive post and dumpshock swallows it whole without pause or mercy?
Well, with that in mind, Mister Juan, I believe I've played (or at least planned) with you before, and you always seemed enthusiastic about your characters and reliable with your correspondence. If you have character ideas, I'd love to hear them.
As for the rest of the post, I'll cover all that as the theme and direction of the game becomes apparent. Of course, the first step to that comes from potential players, to give me a seed from which ideas will coalesce.
Well, with that in mind, Mister Juan, I believe I've played (or at least planned) with you before, and you always seemed enthusiastic about your characters and reliable with your correspondence. If you have character ideas, I'd love to hear them.
As for the rest of the post, I'll cover all that as the theme and direction of the game becomes apparent. Of course, the first step to that comes from potential players, to give me a seed from which ideas will coalesce.
Here I was looking for a way to slink my way back into playing a game with my tail between my legs (I'm just bad sometimes for keeping up with groups), and it's looking like you've got far too many people for the dynamic you're looking for already, eh?
Should you want me along for the ride here are some of the character ideas floating around my head:
Silk is one of my favourite characters and I've been looking for a chance to play her again (400BP Character+Background link in my sig). She is the daughter of one of my characters I played at uni (and have recently killed off) so I've known her for a long time! She's written up as being an invisible adept infiltrator but having since bought Way of the Adept perhaps an Artisan fits her better, and B&E is just what she does not who she is! Primary role would be infiltrator and secondary would be hacker.
Ember was also an interesting character, French noble turned druid, but only if another player doesn't want to play a mage.
Shrike is another idea I'm putting together over on the Shadowrun forum under AI (Jack of All Trades)...she's an eGhost of Silk's mother, the killed off runner...<<Here>>...mix of rigger/samurai/hacker
EDIT: I shouldn't forget Feral - a mystic adept wolf shifter. He's an NPC foe at the moment in my Emerging Conflicts game but should he survive that he would make an interesting double act
Many many more where these came from!
Silk is one of my favourite characters and I've been looking for a chance to play her again (400BP Character+Background link in my sig). She is the daughter of one of my characters I played at uni (and have recently killed off) so I've known her for a long time! She's written up as being an invisible adept infiltrator but having since bought Way of the Adept perhaps an Artisan fits her better, and B&E is just what she does not who she is! Primary role would be infiltrator and secondary would be hacker.
Ember was also an interesting character, French noble turned druid, but only if another player doesn't want to play a mage.
Shrike is another idea I'm putting together over on the Shadowrun forum under AI (Jack of All Trades)...she's an eGhost of Silk's mother, the killed off runner...<<Here>>...mix of rigger/samurai/hacker
EDIT: I shouldn't forget Feral - a mystic adept wolf shifter. He's an NPC foe at the moment in my Emerging Conflicts game but should he survive that he would make an interesting double act
Many many more where these came from!
QUOTE (Sir_Psycho @ Jun 17 2011, 10:57 PM) 
Well, with that in mind, Mister Juan, I believe I've played (or at least planned) with you before, and you always seemed enthusiastic about your characters and reliable with your correspondence. If you have character ideas, I'd love to hear them.
Honestly, I've been in so many games in the past 5 years that I've started to lost track of who I gamed with
I'll get something up before the end of the day. I'll get a character background up, a few links to previous games (past and present) and a quick write up on what I'd like to see story/theme/etc... wise.
First and foremost, I have to admit that there would probably be only one character I would be interested to play. He's been in a few games here on Dumpshock (3 that died after a while, and 1 I had to drop out because life took a giant chunk out of my time at that moment). He pretty much represents most of the themes I've always been interested in exploring, and he is, in a way, one of the most realistic characters I have around.
Here's his most “recent” background
Dexter Pope
One of the main reason I like the character so much is because he is, for all intent and purposes, completely and uterly broken. He is NOT a nice person, not by a long shot. He's someone who's old and tired, and has completely lost his sense of purpose in the world. I've always been interested in characters who, I wouldn't are anti-hero, but who aren't really the good guy par se. I've also know that most shadowrun characters, as a rule of thumb, tend to be somewhat young (between 20 and 35). You rarely see very old runners, mostly because they either die before, or retire after hitting big. But what happens to someone who has outlived everyone, probably out of sheer luck, but hasn't hit it big? What happens when you can extend your life through cyberware and bioware, and what sort of phsycological toll does all that wire, cyber, blood and guts take on a person? When do you stop being human in a world like that of shadowrun?
Concerning a setting or a story, I'm very open. I do have to admit I like things that are gritty and realistic (on the account that Shadowrun can only be that realistic). Because of Dexter's nature and character, any story that would allow for the exploration of the themes I've mentioned above would have me thrilled out of my wits
Dumpshock thread wise, you can see what I've done or am doing there. These are just a few exemples, but were and are by far my favorite. The most relevant one to read would probably be Abs' Caracas game.
Caracas : Hole in the Hearth - Dexter Pope
Evolution – Ludmila Soren
Down in the Gutter – Felix
Hitting Bottom – Conall O'Neill (couldn't find the thread with the beginning, so he's there mostly at the end of that one)
Here's his most “recent” background
Dexter Pope
[ Spoiler ]
One of the main reason I like the character so much is because he is, for all intent and purposes, completely and uterly broken. He is NOT a nice person, not by a long shot. He's someone who's old and tired, and has completely lost his sense of purpose in the world. I've always been interested in characters who, I wouldn't are anti-hero, but who aren't really the good guy par se. I've also know that most shadowrun characters, as a rule of thumb, tend to be somewhat young (between 20 and 35). You rarely see very old runners, mostly because they either die before, or retire after hitting big. But what happens to someone who has outlived everyone, probably out of sheer luck, but hasn't hit it big? What happens when you can extend your life through cyberware and bioware, and what sort of phsycological toll does all that wire, cyber, blood and guts take on a person? When do you stop being human in a world like that of shadowrun?
Concerning a setting or a story, I'm very open. I do have to admit I like things that are gritty and realistic (on the account that Shadowrun can only be that realistic). Because of Dexter's nature and character, any story that would allow for the exploration of the themes I've mentioned above would have me thrilled out of my wits
Dumpshock thread wise, you can see what I've done or am doing there. These are just a few exemples, but were and are by far my favorite. The most relevant one to read would probably be Abs' Caracas game.
Caracas : Hole in the Hearth - Dexter Pope
Evolution – Ludmila Soren
Down in the Gutter – Felix
Hitting Bottom – Conall O'Neill (couldn't find the thread with the beginning, so he's there mostly at the end of that one)
Ok... for some reason... I can't seem to make the links work...
QUOTE (Mister Juan @ Jun 18 2011, 03:02 PM)
First and foremost, I have to admit that there would probably be only one character I would be interested to play. He's been in a few games here on Dumpshock (3 that died after a while, and 1 I had to drop out because life took a giant chunk out of my time at that moment). He pretty much represents most of the themes I've always been interested in exploring, and he is, in a way, one of the most realistic characters I have around.
Here's his most “recent” background
Dexter Pope
One of the main reason I like the character so much is because he is, for all intent and purposes, completely and uterly broken. He is NOT a nice person, not by a long shot. He's someone who's old and tired, and has completely lost his sense of purpose in the world. I've always been interested in characters who, I wouldn't are anti-hero, but who aren't really the good guy par se. I've also know that most shadowrun characters, as a rule of thumb, tend to be somewhat young (between 20 and 35). You rarely see very old runners, mostly because they either die before, or retire after hitting big. But what happens to someone who has outlived everyone, probably out of sheer luck, but hasn't hit it big? What happens when you can extend your life through cyberware and bioware, and what sort of phsycological toll does all that wire, cyber, blood and guts take on a person? When do you stop being human in a world like that of shadowrun?
Concerning a setting or a story, I'm very open. I do have to admit I like things that are gritty and realistic (on the account that Shadowrun can only be that realistic). Because of Dexter's nature and character, any story that would allow for the exploration of the themes I've mentioned above would have me thrilled out of my wits
Dumpshock thread wise, you can see what I've done or am doing there. These are just a few exemples, but were and are by far my favorite. The most relevant one to read would probably be Abs' Caracas game.
Caracas : Hole in the Hearth - Dexter Pope
Evolution – Ludmila Soren
Down in the Gutter – Felix
Hitting Bottom – Conall O'Neill (couldn't find the thread with the beginning, so he's there mostly at the end of that one)
Here's his most “recent” background
Dexter Pope
[ Spoiler ]
One of the main reason I like the character so much is because he is, for all intent and purposes, completely and uterly broken. He is NOT a nice person, not by a long shot. He's someone who's old and tired, and has completely lost his sense of purpose in the world. I've always been interested in characters who, I wouldn't are anti-hero, but who aren't really the good guy par se. I've also know that most shadowrun characters, as a rule of thumb, tend to be somewhat young (between 20 and 35). You rarely see very old runners, mostly because they either die before, or retire after hitting big. But what happens to someone who has outlived everyone, probably out of sheer luck, but hasn't hit it big? What happens when you can extend your life through cyberware and bioware, and what sort of phsycological toll does all that wire, cyber, blood and guts take on a person? When do you stop being human in a world like that of shadowrun?
Concerning a setting or a story, I'm very open. I do have to admit I like things that are gritty and realistic (on the account that Shadowrun can only be that realistic). Because of Dexter's nature and character, any story that would allow for the exploration of the themes I've mentioned above would have me thrilled out of my wits
Dumpshock thread wise, you can see what I've done or am doing there. These are just a few exemples, but were and are by far my favorite. The most relevant one to read would probably be Abs' Caracas game.
Caracas : Hole in the Hearth - Dexter Pope
Evolution – Ludmila Soren
Down in the Gutter – Felix
Hitting Bottom – Conall O'Neill (couldn't find the thread with the beginning, so he's there mostly at the end of that one)
I think the interaction between Dexter and Arthur would make for an interesting game: two old men, one with decades of experience but no real reason to keep going, the other with a strong purpose but no real idea what to do about it.
...and the young idealist would contrast nicely with either
Of course if you want old and broken then Requiem would fit the bill...link in my sig with the others
Of course if you want old and broken then Requiem would fit the bill...link in my sig with the others
QUOTE (Aria @ Jun 18 2011, 04:05 PM)
...and the young idealist would contrast nicely with either
I completely agree with that.
I played a severely neurotic Czech dwarf alongside Dexter Pope, in a game that had potential but went nowhere with a very large cast to drag it down. Too many cooks. Do you still have the build from that game of pope? I seem to remember we had a lot of resources to start with in that game.
Anyway, Mister Juan you're definately in, and I like having a good example in thread there. The others I'll have to take time to pore through, or discuss more here.
I have a expat operator character quite similar, Old, heavily cybered, grew up in an environment of fear and large military showings. Although he's an Israeli troll pushed into militarism despite his nature due to his size, mild youth criminal record, and finally galvanized into extremism through the loss of his wife in an attack on a bus and handling by Mossad agents. Spent years doing unscrupulous black ops in and around the Middle East and the European theatre during the second Ottoman Jihad, until his motherless daughter exhibited a different sort of fanatacism and he decided to bring her elsewhere to be educated, slipping from merc work to shadow work, occasionally still handled by Mossad and other Israeli nationals, but has grown totally skeptical of the justifications he once used to kill so many.
As a GM though, I'm a little worried about skillset and versatility. Given the small team, you'll need areas of competency other than just combat. A career soldier could conceivably pick up a whole range of disciplines, such as build and repair skills, engineering skills, survival, electronic warfare, surveillance/recon, stealth, first aid, demolitions, tactics, vehicle/drone use, etc. Not to mention whatever personal interests and aptitudes he has. As you described, he's survived against all odds. Although, I do love a combat machine with depth, and I must say I relish the idea of having him hold out against a larger, well equipped force with his years of experience his honed, most deadly weapon. Perhaps his intro could be a combat sequence in a hell-hole, before coming back to wherever this campaign will start for treatment and a tune-up.
You mentioned him being handled, by who? I may want to explore that (I just bought Spy Games). This also brings up contacts, i'm thinking of giving free contact points based on some system I haven't decided upon yet, so contacts would be a great thing to bring up to help me craft the game, as I may have to jump into those characters, and depending on what groups they belong to and their geographical locations they'll help expand the gameworld. Given the small nature of the team, I'm happy to go into Dexter's history, and his family and this Morris character, who sounds like a fixer or handler with a by-the-balls business manner. I'll need some info on him, unless you want his benefactors to be a complete (and possibly jarring) surprise.
Anyway, I look forward to seeing a preliminary character sheet, or something you prepared earlier.
As for Aria. I guess Silk is the one you're most eager to play. I've had a look at the 400bp build and the background. The stuff with the merc groups is a little convoluted, but if you wanted to give me a dot point synopsis (maybe a private message) about the mother and the previous games so I don't step on your history, and as with Mister Juan, contacts we can flesh out and place widely within the gameworld would help a lot.
Although, I'm a little worried by some points in the background. I have absolutely no sense of how a twenty-one year old, even with runner parents, could be a widely skilled and connected shadowrunner to the tune of 1000+ Karma. When you rebuild, I'll need to see a bigger list of less general Knowledge Skills, and ultimately, if it's not essential to the character, it would be a nice if you could tag a couple of years on her.
Other points:
- You mentioned the mother (shrike, was it?) worked for the "Bureau". Do you mean the FBI, in the UCAS? What was her shadowrunning role? What sort of jobs did the Balefire team perform after she left, what was her relationship with the bureau after leaving?
-Aria, is she a hacker or a techno? Do they meet in the real world.
-Evo sponsorship. Why? How? was it due to leverage or potential? Did Shrike do shadow work for them? Are they still funding uni work or perhaps they've cancelled due to poor performance.
-the SIN. How does your character have a legit SIN? did her mother not erase it when she made her escape? If it's legit wouldn't it be in her name? either this is a plot hole or I could use this as the justification for some-one tracking her down and killing her (which seems to work).
-If you want Silk to be a corp sponsored uni student, which I admit opens many opportunities for corporate as well as underground contacts, then we'll need to base the game near a university campus, preferably where Evo would carry weight. Alternatively, with the death of your mother and the investigation into that, you may have lost favour with Evo, or even their bond to your mother caused them to re-evaluate the cost-benefit analysis of your scholarship, plunging you headlong into the shadows soon after you wet your toes.
-You may need to alter the character to fill the roles Dexter Pope can't or won't.
1. Magic. Pope's heavily cybered, but I assume not enough to become dual natured, so if Silk is going to be capable at spotting and dealing with magical threats, she will either need to spend a point on the astral perception power and be able to kill spirits with a weapon focus or go the way of the mystic adept, which would allow for conjuring, spellcasting and counterspelling. I'm allowing pre-game Initiation with karma, so you can make up for some of the initial weakness of mystic adepts.
2. Hacking. Maybe we can squeeze hacking in with Dexter Pope under information warfare and familiarization with milspec tech, but if he doesn't want to or can't you can cover it despite the points sunk into magic. Again though, a split IT/Thaumaturgy degree would work (and that degree of multidisciplinary acumen would warrant a corporate scholarship), but silk would need a pretty prodigal intelligence, and again a 21 year old couldn't possibly have invested enough time to reap the benefits of both those disciplines.
The more I think about it, it could work with some tuning. If we tone down the raised by runners idea, which strikes me almost as realistic as raised by wolves, we have an extremely talented young academic, perhaps slightly sheltered by her underworld-savvy mother and corporate scholarship by Evo's sharklike tertiary headhunters, who keep an eye on their changeling property like a golden egg. Able to decipher both thaumaturgic formulae and matrix code, she showed infinite potential until her mother's running team was hit and she was left with her mother's loss without cause to come to terms with.
Now, she no longer has the safety net of her mother, and her declining performance academically is causing Evo's sharks to circle, pushing her further into the shadows, digging up her mother's contacts and skeletons. The thread I can see to be pulled on here is an introduction to the shadows, and the consequences of raw talent combined with naivete and a hunger for truth and revenge. Does this sound right to you?
I can see a way for this game to work. Some common threads I see are the intelligence community, runners/mercs. Corporate and government intelligence assets and agencies will have a presence at a university, which could serve as the middleman between Silk and Pope, considering the intelligence contacts made in military and mercenary circles.
As for runners/mercs, one of Shrike's old contacts may enlist Pope to ensure Silk doesn't get in over her head and join her mother. To remove the middleman, maybe Pope and Shrike worked together way back when.
The two characters could juxtapose nicely, experience against talent, paranoia against curiosity, old habits against rookie mistakes. Silk would be seeing some of the sixth world's common atrocities without blinders for the first time, whereas Pope would be forced to revisit some of them.
Any opinions? If anyone else wants to get in, I'll need to see some backgrounds or hear some cool ideas.
Also, if anyone wants to start building, and has any questions about build/house rules, just let me know.
Anyway, Mister Juan you're definately in, and I like having a good example in thread there. The others I'll have to take time to pore through, or discuss more here.
I have a expat operator character quite similar, Old, heavily cybered, grew up in an environment of fear and large military showings. Although he's an Israeli troll pushed into militarism despite his nature due to his size, mild youth criminal record, and finally galvanized into extremism through the loss of his wife in an attack on a bus and handling by Mossad agents. Spent years doing unscrupulous black ops in and around the Middle East and the European theatre during the second Ottoman Jihad, until his motherless daughter exhibited a different sort of fanatacism and he decided to bring her elsewhere to be educated, slipping from merc work to shadow work, occasionally still handled by Mossad and other Israeli nationals, but has grown totally skeptical of the justifications he once used to kill so many.
As a GM though, I'm a little worried about skillset and versatility. Given the small team, you'll need areas of competency other than just combat. A career soldier could conceivably pick up a whole range of disciplines, such as build and repair skills, engineering skills, survival, electronic warfare, surveillance/recon, stealth, first aid, demolitions, tactics, vehicle/drone use, etc. Not to mention whatever personal interests and aptitudes he has. As you described, he's survived against all odds. Although, I do love a combat machine with depth, and I must say I relish the idea of having him hold out against a larger, well equipped force with his years of experience his honed, most deadly weapon. Perhaps his intro could be a combat sequence in a hell-hole, before coming back to wherever this campaign will start for treatment and a tune-up.
You mentioned him being handled, by who? I may want to explore that (I just bought Spy Games). This also brings up contacts, i'm thinking of giving free contact points based on some system I haven't decided upon yet, so contacts would be a great thing to bring up to help me craft the game, as I may have to jump into those characters, and depending on what groups they belong to and their geographical locations they'll help expand the gameworld. Given the small nature of the team, I'm happy to go into Dexter's history, and his family and this Morris character, who sounds like a fixer or handler with a by-the-balls business manner. I'll need some info on him, unless you want his benefactors to be a complete (and possibly jarring) surprise.
Anyway, I look forward to seeing a preliminary character sheet, or something you prepared earlier.
As for Aria. I guess Silk is the one you're most eager to play. I've had a look at the 400bp build and the background. The stuff with the merc groups is a little convoluted, but if you wanted to give me a dot point synopsis (maybe a private message) about the mother and the previous games so I don't step on your history, and as with Mister Juan, contacts we can flesh out and place widely within the gameworld would help a lot.
Although, I'm a little worried by some points in the background. I have absolutely no sense of how a twenty-one year old, even with runner parents, could be a widely skilled and connected shadowrunner to the tune of 1000+ Karma. When you rebuild, I'll need to see a bigger list of less general Knowledge Skills, and ultimately, if it's not essential to the character, it would be a nice if you could tag a couple of years on her.
Other points:
- You mentioned the mother (shrike, was it?) worked for the "Bureau". Do you mean the FBI, in the UCAS? What was her shadowrunning role? What sort of jobs did the Balefire team perform after she left, what was her relationship with the bureau after leaving?
-Aria, is she a hacker or a techno? Do they meet in the real world.
-Evo sponsorship. Why? How? was it due to leverage or potential? Did Shrike do shadow work for them? Are they still funding uni work or perhaps they've cancelled due to poor performance.
-the SIN. How does your character have a legit SIN? did her mother not erase it when she made her escape? If it's legit wouldn't it be in her name? either this is a plot hole or I could use this as the justification for some-one tracking her down and killing her (which seems to work).
-If you want Silk to be a corp sponsored uni student, which I admit opens many opportunities for corporate as well as underground contacts, then we'll need to base the game near a university campus, preferably where Evo would carry weight. Alternatively, with the death of your mother and the investigation into that, you may have lost favour with Evo, or even their bond to your mother caused them to re-evaluate the cost-benefit analysis of your scholarship, plunging you headlong into the shadows soon after you wet your toes.
-You may need to alter the character to fill the roles Dexter Pope can't or won't.
1. Magic. Pope's heavily cybered, but I assume not enough to become dual natured, so if Silk is going to be capable at spotting and dealing with magical threats, she will either need to spend a point on the astral perception power and be able to kill spirits with a weapon focus or go the way of the mystic adept, which would allow for conjuring, spellcasting and counterspelling. I'm allowing pre-game Initiation with karma, so you can make up for some of the initial weakness of mystic adepts.
2. Hacking. Maybe we can squeeze hacking in with Dexter Pope under information warfare and familiarization with milspec tech, but if he doesn't want to or can't you can cover it despite the points sunk into magic. Again though, a split IT/Thaumaturgy degree would work (and that degree of multidisciplinary acumen would warrant a corporate scholarship), but silk would need a pretty prodigal intelligence, and again a 21 year old couldn't possibly have invested enough time to reap the benefits of both those disciplines.
The more I think about it, it could work with some tuning. If we tone down the raised by runners idea, which strikes me almost as realistic as raised by wolves, we have an extremely talented young academic, perhaps slightly sheltered by her underworld-savvy mother and corporate scholarship by Evo's sharklike tertiary headhunters, who keep an eye on their changeling property like a golden egg. Able to decipher both thaumaturgic formulae and matrix code, she showed infinite potential until her mother's running team was hit and she was left with her mother's loss without cause to come to terms with.
Now, she no longer has the safety net of her mother, and her declining performance academically is causing Evo's sharks to circle, pushing her further into the shadows, digging up her mother's contacts and skeletons. The thread I can see to be pulled on here is an introduction to the shadows, and the consequences of raw talent combined with naivete and a hunger for truth and revenge. Does this sound right to you?
I can see a way for this game to work. Some common threads I see are the intelligence community, runners/mercs. Corporate and government intelligence assets and agencies will have a presence at a university, which could serve as the middleman between Silk and Pope, considering the intelligence contacts made in military and mercenary circles.
As for runners/mercs, one of Shrike's old contacts may enlist Pope to ensure Silk doesn't get in over her head and join her mother. To remove the middleman, maybe Pope and Shrike worked together way back when.
The two characters could juxtapose nicely, experience against talent, paranoia against curiosity, old habits against rookie mistakes. Silk would be seeing some of the sixth world's common atrocities without blinders for the first time, whereas Pope would be forced to revisit some of them.
Any opinions? If anyone else wants to get in, I'll need to see some backgrounds or hear some cool ideas.
Also, if anyone wants to start building, and has any questions about build/house rules, just let me know.
Damn! You’re totaly right! I do remember the game you mention. I believe it was run by Divine.... something. Can’t remember his handle tho 
. I’ll have to admit, I highly doubt I still have Dexter’s build for that game, but I can already tell you I was never completely satisfied with it.
Concerning skillset, the character has, of course, always been geared towards combat, simply due to the fact that I’ve always played him in games where he was either part of a large team (so there was no need for him to diversify) or I simply didn’t have enough build points to make him into something more. I would though, given enough leeway, make him into much more than a simple combat monster, like you suggested. It would, in fact, make much more sense for him to have picked up a lot of “random” skills throughout his years in the field. To be very honest, one of the spark that created Dexter as a character was seeing the Bourne trilogy. It got me to think: what happens to people like that when/if they get old. And by old, I do mean in their 60s.
I honestly think we see eye to eye not only on the character, but about where we can take him! J I have to admit I’ve rarely been this thrilled about a game
About the mention of Morris and such, it stems from the fact that the background I posted earlier was for Abs’ Caracas game. I needed a reason for Dexter to work Caracas’ shadow, so we decided to make him a CAS “CIA” asset: the sort of guy they call in when they need to get bad things done. So, him having a handler is a completely optional thing, and could easily be written out of the background. It was just a convenient thing to have for that game. If you do like the idea tho, and I got the feeling you do, we could look into that in more detail.
So yea, thanks a whole lot for taking me in. I’ll do my very best not to disappoint you! J
On the topic of the character sheet, what would you like me to start working with exactly?
. I’ll have to admit, I highly doubt I still have Dexter’s build for that game, but I can already tell you I was never completely satisfied with it. Concerning skillset, the character has, of course, always been geared towards combat, simply due to the fact that I’ve always played him in games where he was either part of a large team (so there was no need for him to diversify) or I simply didn’t have enough build points to make him into something more. I would though, given enough leeway, make him into much more than a simple combat monster, like you suggested. It would, in fact, make much more sense for him to have picked up a lot of “random” skills throughout his years in the field. To be very honest, one of the spark that created Dexter as a character was seeing the Bourne trilogy. It got me to think: what happens to people like that when/if they get old. And by old, I do mean in their 60s.
I honestly think we see eye to eye not only on the character, but about where we can take him! J I have to admit I’ve rarely been this thrilled about a game
About the mention of Morris and such, it stems from the fact that the background I posted earlier was for Abs’ Caracas game. I needed a reason for Dexter to work Caracas’ shadow, so we decided to make him a CAS “CIA” asset: the sort of guy they call in when they need to get bad things done. So, him having a handler is a completely optional thing, and could easily be written out of the background. It was just a convenient thing to have for that game. If you do like the idea tho, and I got the feeling you do, we could look into that in more detail.
So yea, thanks a whole lot for taking me in. I’ll do my very best not to disappoint you! J
On the topic of the character sheet, what would you like me to start working with exactly?
Tentatively I'm going to say 1000 karma, enough to splurge on some nice dicepools, but still encourages wide skillsets. You have unmodified IntuitionxLogic X2 free points (BP) for knowledge skills, and unmodified Charismax5bp contacts. though I don't want to encourage you not to spend at least a portion of your large karma pool on those two areas, but I understand how the need to pump up dice pools causes an unfortunate neglect of knowledge skills and pricey contacts (especially very pricey group contacts).
For Dexter, what I'm most looking forward to is his skills, both Active and Knowledge skills (even a speculative list would be sufficient this early on), Cyberware list, and contacts. I'm not fussed on point costs for contacts at the moment, but it'd be nice to see them. Perhaps a format for introducing contacts could be a paragraph or sentence in quotation marks, the relationship as described IC by Dexter Pope, and then whatever metagame details that need to be filled in. I understand karmagen can be a little fiddly, mathematically, so I'm happy to start with a framework, especially because your team-mate will need to be built partially with reference to Dexter's deficiencies.
Don't go insane on gear (like we did in Divine something-or-other's game). Pick things that your character views as essential. Two commlinks, progs, Identities and licenses, a weapon or two, an everyday armoured outfit, maybe a vehicle and some basic drones if appropriate. The reason for this is because I view the financial aspects of shadowrunning as slightly different than the RAW suggests. To my imagination, a runner is not paid a grand for a week's work and expected to either have gear for every situation or to buy expensive gear to facilitate the work. As I see it, a runner is often paid an even million of untraceable cred and/or it's worth in assets and goodies, with a quarter or even a half in advance for a decent negotiator to acquire the necessary gear and pay the necessary expenses, and if they don't respect the professional courtesy of the advance or fail the mission, they have a very pissed off and powerful debtor. The odds a shadowrunner faces are regularly insurmountable, they need both a strong reward to work towards and a lot on the line to keep them on their toes, the carrot and the whip, so to speak. Of course, running the shadows is a costly business, so replacements, repairs, bribes, rents, debts, donations, resupply, upgrades, investments, dependents etc. eat away at paychecks in a big way, and because of this, a good paycheck isn't necessarily enough to retire on alone, but certainly widens your influence and strengthens your position on the chessboard. This also means that a good windfall can support intense personal campaigns, which I don't want to shy away from in this game.
After that, I have to reiterate the importance of contacts. You won't always have the gear or expertise or connection you need, especially if work requires travel, so a pool of contacts both wide and deep will help you prepare and spend the fruits of your labour.
I'm happy to admit most things from supplementary books, but you'll need to fill me in if it's from a book I don't have, eg. War! Also, if an aspect of your character references it, I'm happy to re-read excerpts of books with relevance. For a character like Pope, I imagine fields of fire would have some good material. For example, I'm going to search my pool of PDFs for info on Caracas, and other merc infested hell-holes.
I can't remember all my house rules, inclinations and interpretations, but I'm open to discussing them. Some include:
-hacking tests are Logic+Skill with the program rating as a cap on successes.
-I may veto some qualities, perhaps because I view them as broken, or as a roleplay issue rather than a mathematical one, or they just won't fit or apply to the game.
-Chemistry is an active skill, and an awesome one at that.
See, I could only remember three.
For Dexter, what I'm most looking forward to is his skills, both Active and Knowledge skills (even a speculative list would be sufficient this early on), Cyberware list, and contacts. I'm not fussed on point costs for contacts at the moment, but it'd be nice to see them. Perhaps a format for introducing contacts could be a paragraph or sentence in quotation marks, the relationship as described IC by Dexter Pope, and then whatever metagame details that need to be filled in. I understand karmagen can be a little fiddly, mathematically, so I'm happy to start with a framework, especially because your team-mate will need to be built partially with reference to Dexter's deficiencies.
Don't go insane on gear (like we did in Divine something-or-other's game). Pick things that your character views as essential. Two commlinks, progs, Identities and licenses, a weapon or two, an everyday armoured outfit, maybe a vehicle and some basic drones if appropriate. The reason for this is because I view the financial aspects of shadowrunning as slightly different than the RAW suggests. To my imagination, a runner is not paid a grand for a week's work and expected to either have gear for every situation or to buy expensive gear to facilitate the work. As I see it, a runner is often paid an even million of untraceable cred and/or it's worth in assets and goodies, with a quarter or even a half in advance for a decent negotiator to acquire the necessary gear and pay the necessary expenses, and if they don't respect the professional courtesy of the advance or fail the mission, they have a very pissed off and powerful debtor. The odds a shadowrunner faces are regularly insurmountable, they need both a strong reward to work towards and a lot on the line to keep them on their toes, the carrot and the whip, so to speak. Of course, running the shadows is a costly business, so replacements, repairs, bribes, rents, debts, donations, resupply, upgrades, investments, dependents etc. eat away at paychecks in a big way, and because of this, a good paycheck isn't necessarily enough to retire on alone, but certainly widens your influence and strengthens your position on the chessboard. This also means that a good windfall can support intense personal campaigns, which I don't want to shy away from in this game.
After that, I have to reiterate the importance of contacts. You won't always have the gear or expertise or connection you need, especially if work requires travel, so a pool of contacts both wide and deep will help you prepare and spend the fruits of your labour.
I'm happy to admit most things from supplementary books, but you'll need to fill me in if it's from a book I don't have, eg. War! Also, if an aspect of your character references it, I'm happy to re-read excerpts of books with relevance. For a character like Pope, I imagine fields of fire would have some good material. For example, I'm going to search my pool of PDFs for info on Caracas, and other merc infested hell-holes.
I can't remember all my house rules, inclinations and interpretations, but I'm open to discussing them. Some include:
-hacking tests are Logic+Skill with the program rating as a cap on successes.
-I may veto some qualities, perhaps because I view them as broken, or as a roleplay issue rather than a mathematical one, or they just won't fit or apply to the game.
-Chemistry is an active skill, and an awesome one at that.
See, I could only remember three.
Looks like you need/want a magically active character to complement Dexter and I cannot really say I have a useful background concept for that (which goes much further than "Mystic Adept" ), and won't really be able to before the end of the week, so - if anything - I would have proposed Scarlet (a rebuild of the hacker, I had linked in my first post already, with an added focus on social abilities; background and personality and such are included in there), but, alas, that would probably result in no magic at all, so obviously not a very good fit.
Unless maybe you would consider upgrading your idea to three chars (i.e. mundane (Dexter), magic (Silk?), matrix (Scarlet))?
Bye
Thanee
), and won't really be able to before the end of the week, so - if anything - I would have proposed Scarlet (a rebuild of the hacker, I had linked in my first post already, with an added focus on social abilities; background and personality and such are included in there), but, alas, that would probably result in no magic at all, so obviously not a very good fit. Unless maybe you would consider upgrading your idea to three chars (i.e. mundane (Dexter), magic (Silk?), matrix (Scarlet))?
Bye
Thanee
I'm afraid all I can really do at this point is tell people to prepare characters. Until we see a skill list from Dexter I'm not sure what areas really need to be covered, or who wants to play the counter role. Not having played many, if any, consistent pbp games, I'm wondering what I can do to prepare for the game. Anyone have any gripes from previous games, tips on things I should have read up on or made ready?
I think that were things have tended to go wrong on other games I've seen is when too many people are waiting for IPs to come round as things get bogged down in combat or astral stuff...anything that slows the game down - of course in a much smaller group of regular posters that shouldn't be so much of an issue but I think that 'rules light' has worked well in my games with a fluid approach to time etc...
I will try and answer you comments on Silk shortly - I think I will rebuild the 400BP version based on Way of the Adept and use that as a starting point. As she is young (happy to add a couple of years - and incidentally what year are you thinking of being in - '73?!?) I think that I'll use a lot of the extra points for contacts and perhaps bumping her matrix skills. I don't see any reason why, through time, she couldn't also discover access to mystic adept abilities - perhaps spirit summoning and counterspelling and leave out spell casting (less of a points investment, potentially very interesting and still versatile and useful).
Her background is a little cobbled as I was trying to tie up some loose ends in my games - for a more in depth character driven game I would spend more time ironing out the inconsistencies and tweaking the history.
Absolutely!
I'll also PM you some of my GM stuff - how much might or might not be relevant to this is entirely up to you, it's not set in stone in my mind (although I have ideas where I'm going with it all).
A general character gen query:
Are you capping availability at anything (I'm thinking of FakeSINs and things like agent programs more than assault cannons - my vision for Silk is that she can travel legally anywhere because she doesn't rely too heavily on restricted gear)
I will try and answer you comments on Silk shortly - I think I will rebuild the 400BP version based on Way of the Adept and use that as a starting point. As she is young (happy to add a couple of years - and incidentally what year are you thinking of being in - '73?!?) I think that I'll use a lot of the extra points for contacts and perhaps bumping her matrix skills. I don't see any reason why, through time, she couldn't also discover access to mystic adept abilities - perhaps spirit summoning and counterspelling and leave out spell casting (less of a points investment, potentially very interesting and still versatile and useful).
Her background is a little cobbled as I was trying to tie up some loose ends in my games - for a more in depth character driven game I would spend more time ironing out the inconsistencies and tweaking the history.
QUOTE
If we tone down the raised by runners idea, which strikes me almost as realistic as raised by wolves, we have an extremely talented young academic, perhaps slightly sheltered by her underworld-savvy mother and corporate scholarship by Evo's sharklike tertiary headhunters, who keep an eye on their changeling property like a golden egg. Able to decipher both thaumaturgic formulae and matrix code, she showed infinite potential until her mother's running team was hit and she was left with her mother's loss without cause to come to terms with.
Now, she no longer has the safety net of her mother, and her declining performance academically is causing Evo's sharks to circle, pushing her further into the shadows, digging up her mother's contacts and skeletons. The thread I can see to be pulled on here is an introduction to the shadows, and the consequences of raw talent combined with naivete and a hunger for truth and revenge. Does this sound right to you?
Now, she no longer has the safety net of her mother, and her declining performance academically is causing Evo's sharks to circle, pushing her further into the shadows, digging up her mother's contacts and skeletons. The thread I can see to be pulled on here is an introduction to the shadows, and the consequences of raw talent combined with naivete and a hunger for truth and revenge. Does this sound right to you?
Absolutely!
I'll also PM you some of my GM stuff - how much might or might not be relevant to this is entirely up to you, it's not set in stone in my mind (although I have ideas where I'm going with it all).
A general character gen query:
Are you capping availability at anything (I'm thinking of FakeSINs and things like agent programs more than assault cannons - my vision for Silk is that she can travel legally anywhere because she doesn't rely too heavily on restricted gear)
Arthur "Merlin" Garrett, 1000-point karmagen. I took the opportunity afforded by the extra karma to give him an ally spirit.
Corvina is Arthur Garrett's trusted and beloved ally spirit, and has been his constant companion for almost ten years. Her native form is that of a large raven with unusually intelligent eyes. In her humanoid form, Corvina appears as a beautiful human female in her mid-to-late twenties, dressed in a stylish black pencil skirt and blazer with a subtle feather pattern woven into the cloth of both garments. Underneath the blazer is a pristine white silk blouse, and her shoes are black patent-leather pumps. Her shiny, blue-black hair is cut in a fashion-forward asymmetric bob, and her bright golden eyes are lively and curious.
At rest, Corvina's personality leans toward the sardonic, needling everyone (sometimes even Arthur) around her with a rapier wit. She calls everyone by their given name, if she knows it, in an insultingly familiar tone; otherwise she makes up whatever nickname seems most likely to irritate the person. Arthur occasionally reins her in, but more often finds her antics amusing. On assignment, Corvina switches gears to become almost pathologically focused. In combat, she favors evasion over direct confrontation, making use of her powers of Movement, Concealment, Confusion, Influence, Accident, and Weather Control, as well as her ability to fly, to hinder the foe and discourage pursuit. When pressed, however, she can defend herself with bolts of electricity.
Corvina's openly affectionate manner toward her master has caused numerous scurrilous rumors about their relationship behind closed doors, but no evidence exists of such impropriety.
Corvina is Arthur Garrett's trusted and beloved ally spirit, and has been his constant companion for almost ten years. Her native form is that of a large raven with unusually intelligent eyes. In her humanoid form, Corvina appears as a beautiful human female in her mid-to-late twenties, dressed in a stylish black pencil skirt and blazer with a subtle feather pattern woven into the cloth of both garments. Underneath the blazer is a pristine white silk blouse, and her shoes are black patent-leather pumps. Her shiny, blue-black hair is cut in a fashion-forward asymmetric bob, and her bright golden eyes are lively and curious.
At rest, Corvina's personality leans toward the sardonic, needling everyone (sometimes even Arthur) around her with a rapier wit. She calls everyone by their given name, if she knows it, in an insultingly familiar tone; otherwise she makes up whatever nickname seems most likely to irritate the person. Arthur occasionally reins her in, but more often finds her antics amusing. On assignment, Corvina switches gears to become almost pathologically focused. In combat, she favors evasion over direct confrontation, making use of her powers of Movement, Concealment, Confusion, Influence, Accident, and Weather Control, as well as her ability to fly, to hinder the foe and discourage pursuit. When pressed, however, she can defend herself with bolts of electricity.
Corvina's openly affectionate manner toward her master has caused numerous scurrilous rumors about their relationship behind closed doors, but no evidence exists of such impropriety.
QUOTE (Sir_Psycho @ Jun 20 2011, 12:53 AM)
For Dexter, what I'm most looking forward to is his skills, both Active and Knowledge skills (even a speculative list would be sufficient this early on), Cyberware list, and contacts. I'm not fussed on point costs for contacts at the moment, but it'd be nice to see them. Perhaps a format for introducing contacts could be a paragraph or sentence in quotation marks, the relationship as described IC by Dexter Pope, and then whatever metagame details that need to be filled in. I understand karmagen can be a little fiddly, mathematically, so I'm happy to start with a framework, especially because your team-mate will need to be built partially with reference to Dexter's deficiencies.
Alright! I'll start working on that tonight. Since you've graciously offered me the possibility of just going with a speculative list, that is most definitely what I will do. I'm actually somewhat bad at making characters when it comes to the numerical values, so if I can avoid doing it more than once, I'll be an extremely happy camper. What I'll do is I'll go "wider" (both with the skills, gears and contacts) than I should, and then we can just scale down from there. That is, if that works for you!
As for Caracas, like I mentioned earlier, it doesn't really need to be that local in particular. If you're still interested it in, all the info I personally read came from Runner Haven (I think...).
I'll do my very best to get you everything as soon as possible, so that other players won't have to wait too long.
I completely understand math-fear. I might try and build a similar merc by my own measure and maybe you can try to adapt that.
Wide on skills is good. A few things to consider
-Tech: Even if a hardened soldier couldn't hope to find a stealthed file in a corporate data store, there are many legitimate reasons to have technical skills in the field. While the hacking skill wouldn't be essential, consider the importance of encryption and decryption, the Command program for directing drones and wireless field gear, Sniffer programs for tracing and locating enemy forces. You may want to use some Unwired options, if you have them, such as optimisation for encrypting or something else that will give you an edge. Stay away from skill groups for matrix skills, pick a few cool tricks Pope might pull off in the field and then you can use a specialisation, eg. Electronic Warfare (Encryption or Jamming spec.). Consider the use of headware, tacnets, and of course, what sensor systems Pope has built into him and otherwise at his disposal.
-Vehicles and Drones: Pope's major role as muscle as I see it would be safeguarding the team offensively or defensively, and years in military service would breed a familiarity with combat tech, for example UAVs, tanks and helicopters. Vehicle control rigs are cheap, and the high reaction scores of a combat character would benefit Dexter when he remotely pilots in some fire support or redlines the escape vehicle.
-Stealth: Again, you don't need to dump a lot of karma into skillgroups, but being ex-military, and handled by the whatever UCAS and CAS alphabet agencies that may have come across him, I imagine pope has performed infiltrations, slit some throats, sat in ditches performing recon deep behind enemy lines. So maybe palming isn't his speciality, but he can track an enemy force undetected through a warzone, utilize camouflage, or stake out a drop point. Just examples, but I find that by using specialisations and avoiding skill groups, you can actually reflect a character's career, aptitudes and strategies..
Wide on skills is good. A few things to consider
-Tech: Even if a hardened soldier couldn't hope to find a stealthed file in a corporate data store, there are many legitimate reasons to have technical skills in the field. While the hacking skill wouldn't be essential, consider the importance of encryption and decryption, the Command program for directing drones and wireless field gear, Sniffer programs for tracing and locating enemy forces. You may want to use some Unwired options, if you have them, such as optimisation for encrypting or something else that will give you an edge. Stay away from skill groups for matrix skills, pick a few cool tricks Pope might pull off in the field and then you can use a specialisation, eg. Electronic Warfare (Encryption or Jamming spec.). Consider the use of headware, tacnets, and of course, what sensor systems Pope has built into him and otherwise at his disposal.
-Vehicles and Drones: Pope's major role as muscle as I see it would be safeguarding the team offensively or defensively, and years in military service would breed a familiarity with combat tech, for example UAVs, tanks and helicopters. Vehicle control rigs are cheap, and the high reaction scores of a combat character would benefit Dexter when he remotely pilots in some fire support or redlines the escape vehicle.
-Stealth: Again, you don't need to dump a lot of karma into skillgroups, but being ex-military, and handled by the whatever UCAS and CAS alphabet agencies that may have come across him, I imagine pope has performed infiltrations, slit some throats, sat in ditches performing recon deep behind enemy lines. So maybe palming isn't his speciality, but he can track an enemy force undetected through a warzone, utilize camouflage, or stake out a drop point. Just examples, but I find that by using specialisations and avoiding skill groups, you can actually reflect a character's career, aptitudes and strategies..
QUOTE (Aria @ Jun 20 2011, 07:00 AM)
I will try and answer you comments on Silk shortly - I think I will rebuild the 400BP version based on Way of the Adept and use that as a starting point. As she is young (happy to add a couple of years - and incidentally what year are you thinking of being in - '73?!?) I think that I'll use a lot of the extra points for contacts and perhaps bumping her matrix skills. I don't see any reason why, through time, she couldn't also discover access to mystic adept abilities - perhaps spirit summoning and counterspelling and leave out spell casting (less of a points investment, potentially very interesting and still versatile and useful).
I'm going to throw this one out to you. You said a prevalent problem in pbp games is large casts holding up the flow of time in the game, but Dexter Pope's focus has meant both Matrix and Magic has fallen to the other side, causing a potential imbalance, not only in skillset. Consider legwork, when one person has to do the astral recon, conjuring prep, data searches and hacking runs. Originally I figured I'd end up with two characters with well rounded social, combat and stealth skills, with one focusing on the matrix and the other on magic.
But in practice, we've found a different situation. I love the matrix and it's potential uses in Shadowrun, but I can't force Mister Juan to pick up that slack. I love tech based covert ops characters as well, which seems to me to be the core of Silk's character role, and while an adept/techno-adept can fit into that, the mystic adept things is righteously ambitious. Given that situation, and the fact I don't want to brutalize your character concept because you're potentially the second character, would it be in your interest to strip back some or all of Silk's magic focus and include Tanegar's magician?
QUOTE
Her background is a little cobbled as I was trying to tie up some loose ends in my games - for a more in depth character driven game I would spend more time ironing out the inconsistencies and tweaking the history.
I know it was a tl;dr ramble, but I tried to point out parts of her backstory that need some attention. There's interesting stuff there for me to build a story around, definately, the idea of corporate manipulated academia, and peeling back the layers of the mother's life.
QUOTE
I'll also PM you some of my GM stuff - how much might or might not be relevant to this is entirely up to you, it's not set in stone in my mind (although I have ideas where I'm going with it all).
What sort of stuff? I might need some stuff on the mother, such as her moral code as a runner, specialisation, old contacts, jobs and johnsons. A lot of that i'm sure you can fill us in on through IC exposition, but at some point I'll have to be able to take the reins of her past so Silk can go through some surprise and discovery, I just need the material that will make it consistent for you.
QUOTE
A general character gen query:
Are you capping availability at anything (I'm thinking of FakeSINs and things like agent programs more than assault cannons - my vision for Silk is that she can travel legally anywhere because she doesn't rely too heavily on restricted gear)
Are you capping availability at anything (I'm thinking of FakeSINs and things like agent programs more than assault cannons - my vision for Silk is that she can travel legally anywhere because she doesn't rely too heavily on restricted gear)
I'm willing to waive restricted gear if you've got Matrix contacts who could conceivably help you out. It's not inconceivable a second gen runner who's attending university with false ID under the noses of corporate sponsors would have a forged ID that is for all intents and purposes, a SIN, complete with genetic profiles, legal bank accounts, etc.
As for Agents, i'm not totally sure. If you start going crazy with botnet nuttiness, and more importantly, making my math gland inflame beyond acceptable limits, the hand of the Grid Overwatch Division will slap you. In other words, build it, and I'll decide whether it's worth the 10 karma for Restricted Gear or not.
QUOTE (Tanegar @ Jun 20 2011, 01:01 PM)
Arthur "Merlin" Garrett, 1000-point karmagen.
First of all, nicely done whipping up a complete character sheet in such a short time. I can't guarantee a place yet, as I mentioned to Aria, i'm still wrapping my head around what limitations I can justify placing on the game to help it succeed. Even so, if you don't mind, I'll give you my opinion on the build and the character.
Just in the base numbers, there's a lack of definition, for example the attributes read 2/2/2/1/5/5/5/5. I understand the low physical, he's an elderly academic. But the universal 5's in mental attributes bothers me a little. A man who spent most of his life researching and teaching thaumaturgy would likely have a high Logic attribute of five or higher, but would he be equally as charismatic? It's justified if he was a lecturer, but I think it needs variation. I have the same problem with Intuition - He may be an extremely intelligent man, an academic hermetic, which excuses a high logic, but intuition is a measure of a different intelligence, your street smarts, gut instincts, your ability to read people and your situational awareness, which I can't imagine a corporate researcher/lecturer to have a lot of.
This is again apparent in skills. Five knowledge skills, all at four except one. Eight non-native languages, all at four. Sorcery group, all fours, Conjuring Group at four, as well as Arcana and Enchanting. I get an impression that Merlin is a strong, widely skilled magician, who has a wide range of spells, but it's variance that sells the character. I don't get an impression of what it is that Arthur excels at, what areas of magic practice would be left underdeveloped in a corporate environment, or what his role was in his career. I see he's multilingual, perhaps he uses a foreign language in his Centering rituals, but he is equally proficient in all of them. Knowledge: Magical Theory is way too broad. It could cover what alchemical, chemical and physical processes must be observed to construct a orichalcum threaded helix as the bonding point for a wand to having read volumes on ritual magic in the Naga kingdom. Obviously you don't need to specify such esoteric details, but it'd be something to reconsider, branching out your knowledge skills. Also keep in mind that with college education, even knowledge skills at rating 1 will give you a good over-view of a wide range of subjects. When making magicians myself, I usually break the skillgroups up and specialise, for example, specialising in a particular category of spellcasting. This also means you can save points by avoiding skills that won't come up or don't fit the character, like Ritual Spellcasting, and while a academic magician may often summon and bind spirits to assist him, he probably doesn't have strong experience in banishing wild spirits.
I'm wondering how the Magic attribute is five, considering he's a level 2 initiate. Also, the force 4 power focus is a huge bonus. If I remember my focus rules right, doesn't that give you a maximum spell force of 9, without overcasting? Perhaps you could put a point or two into Magic and drop the power focus, at least to F1-2?
The final thing I'll mention is survivability. Body 2 means you can wear a maximum of four armour points without receiving negative modifiers. On top of that, you don't have the Armour spell (ps. I'm Australian and in the interest of keeping good habits, my spelling might come out a little different-not that I expect it of you), so I see the team losing merlin to the ganger with the holdout pistol. On top of that, you have no dodge skill, so your pool for avoiding and reducing damage will be... 2. You also have only 1 IP. Invisibility is great, but sometimes you can't afford to sustain a whole bunch of spells at once, and you have no stealth skills.
I love the character concept, but the build needs work to support a viable and interesting character. An old man using magic as a crutch to cover his deficiencies is fantastic, but you have to make sure his magic can actually cover his deficiencies.
If you want to go back over it, one of the core questions that needs to be asked is "what do I love about magic in SR?". And then use the answer to add the personal touches to the character.
Finally, where would you most like to begin, in terms of Merlin's timeline. Do you want to start in the hallway, as the company-men reach for their guns, and actually roleplay the destruction of a man's life and his flight for freedom, or do you want to begin later, when his fake sin, safe house and shadow contacts are established? I'd like to begin everyone with separate scenes and then tie them together once every character has exhibited their strengths and weaknesses individually. So basically give me an impression of your vision for the character.
Alright... I'm done with the preliminary skill list. Took some time... I'll start cyber/bioware tonight, but I probably won't be done with it. I think that by tomorrow night, everything you asked for should be wrapped up.
QUOTE
Originally I figured I'd end up with two characters with well-rounded social, combat and stealth skills, with one focusing on the matrix and the other on magic.
But in practice, we've found a different situation. I love the matrix and it's potential uses in Shadowrun, but I can't force Mister Juan to pick up that slack. I love tech based covert ops characters as well, which seems to me to be the core of Silk's character role, and while an adept/techno-adept can fit into that, the mystic adept things is righteously ambitious. Given that situation, and the fact I don't want to brutalize your character concept because you're potentially the second character, would it be in your interest to strip back some or all of Silk's magic focus and include Tanegar's magician?
But in practice, we've found a different situation. I love the matrix and it's potential uses in Shadowrun, but I can't force Mister Juan to pick up that slack. I love tech based covert ops characters as well, which seems to me to be the core of Silk's character role, and while an adept/techno-adept can fit into that, the mystic adept things is righteously ambitious. Given that situation, and the fact I don't want to brutalize your character concept because you're potentially the second character, would it be in your interest to strip back some or all of Silk's magic focus and include Tanegar's magician?
Sounds like a good idea to me (and we can tango with 3
)! Mystic adept was always going to be a bit of stretch and I don’t want skills to be too thin. I’ll focus on the covert ops aspect with secondary hacking so that Silk ‘goes in with the team’ and hopefully doesn’t have to spend large amounts of time sitting in VR while everyone else does all the real work...(and so she isn’t a carbon copy of my drake character in Seth’s game!). If Pope possibly covers the EW side and drone combat then I’ll take the matrix and possibly run the tacnet (I assume we’ll have at least a Rt 2 one for areas where wifi isn’t a problem?!?)I’ll take some magic theory, everyone in the Sixth world should have some...it’s even possible that Tanegar’s mage was my professor?!?
I think that her powers will be fairly equally split between pure artisan stuff and physical ones that help with her B&E – although hopefully it won’t feel like she is too split in her ‘magical’ personality...I want to strike a balance so that she can do both things.
QUOTE
I might need some stuff on the mother, such as her moral code as a runner, specialisation, old contacts, jobs and johnsons. A lot of that i'm sure you can fill us in on through IC exposition, but at some point I'll have to be able to take the reins of her past so Silk can go through some surprise and discovery, I just need the material that will make it consistent for you.
Will PM this to you (at least what isn’t covered in the revised background). (I know it’s slightly confusing but her mother’s handle was ‘Mother’ - for reasons other than the obvious!). When I write up my contacts list I’ll try and make it clear which are Silk’s contacts and which ones she is relying on Mother’s rep to get her an in. I envisage that some of these will be available at the start of the game and some I still need to contact as Silk steps further into the shadows.
When I sort my history out I think I’ll leave her with the knowledge of who killed her mother (Deep Watch, it has been established in the Conflict IC, Aria knows so Silk would) but not why and not who was behind the hit... we could then play out the desire for truth /revenge against Silk’s natural state of hope/optimism (she was a pacifist in a previous incarnation before her mum died, it’s been battered out of her now but she isn’t a bitter twisted cynic yet!)
Mr Juan, if it helps there's an excel character sheet in the DS community forum that can now do karmagen as an option - that's what I'll be using to save my brain from too much maths!
I wouldn't mind a link to that karmagen sheet. I have a program, but I don't think it calculates karma accurately.
I'm happy with a straight up adept, too, if Tanegar's still interested. If you're interested in astral perception and assensing you can spare the power point given you can initiate with karma if you want (although i'll say once, twice max, given your character is in uni). Tanegar's character could have taught you a range of things, languages, assensing, centering theory, astral signature recognition, etc.
As for the tech stuff, Pope may have Electronics for something, you might want a maglock specialization, given the b&e focus. You might need to open up cable housings and insert taps. Pope can probably do field repairs on weapons and vehicles, but Silk could upgrade a commlink. If you've read my rants you'll notice, I like specializations.
I'm happy to start the game anywhere between 70 and 73, although I don't have war. I've read sparingly of ghost cartels, and I'm familiar with emergence, though that's more fluff than ready scenarios. It's really up to you guys. I'm wondering how long before game start Silk's mother died, so I can judge the fallout in the shadows and amongst Silk's contacts.
I'm happy with a straight up adept, too, if Tanegar's still interested. If you're interested in astral perception and assensing you can spare the power point given you can initiate with karma if you want (although i'll say once, twice max, given your character is in uni). Tanegar's character could have taught you a range of things, languages, assensing, centering theory, astral signature recognition, etc.
As for the tech stuff, Pope may have Electronics for something, you might want a maglock specialization, given the b&e focus. You might need to open up cable housings and insert taps. Pope can probably do field repairs on weapons and vehicles, but Silk could upgrade a commlink. If you've read my rants you'll notice, I like specializations.
I'm happy to start the game anywhere between 70 and 73, although I don't have war. I've read sparingly of ghost cartels, and I'm familiar with emergence, though that's more fluff than ready scenarios. It's really up to you guys. I'm wondering how long before game start Silk's mother died, so I can judge the fallout in the shadows and amongst Silk's contacts.
Link to sheet is here: http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=23735 (sorry can't get url's inserted for some reason but it should copy and paste )
On timelines: Silk's mum died in Aug 2070...Silk fell into a pit for an indeterminate period of time (to suit whatever timeline is required but up to 18 months I figured in the 2072 thread here on DS) and then she's spent the last six months dipping her toes into the shadows and taking intensive 'shadowrunning' courses from whoever will teach her!
Revised background is here:
It's much better than it was but please point out any holes that need plugging! I changed the corp to NeoNet (after flicking through the corp files) as they seemed more appropriate and have links with my other DS games.
Contacts to follow once I start going through the 1000 karma build
)On timelines: Silk's mum died in Aug 2070...Silk fell into a pit for an indeterminate period of time (to suit whatever timeline is required but up to 18 months I figured in the 2072 thread here on DS) and then she's spent the last six months dipping her toes into the shadows and taking intensive 'shadowrunning' courses from whoever will teach her!
Revised background is here:
[ Spoiler ]
It's much better than it was but please point out any holes that need plugging! I changed the corp to NeoNet (after flicking through the corp files) as they seemed more appropriate and have links with my other DS games.
Contacts to follow once I start going through the 1000 karma build
Too late, I'm sure, but here are a couple of submissions for consideration:
1) Yazata, Mystic Adept who thinks he is (or maybe actually is!) a fallen Angel from the realm of Ahura Mazda. He has actually run in Lagos with Mister Juan's Dexter, though the campaign was very short-lived. The stats are in a spreadsheet form, but here are 20 questions to give an idea of the PC:
20 questions for Yazata:
2) For a young Idealist, here is Bongo Slade, an adept drummer who seeks the heartbeat of Gaia:
LINK to Cast of Shadows entry
Of course, both would have to be bumped up a bit to get to the 1000 karma state.
Have fun looking at them, anyway.
1) Yazata, Mystic Adept who thinks he is (or maybe actually is!) a fallen Angel from the realm of Ahura Mazda. He has actually run in Lagos with Mister Juan's Dexter, though the campaign was very short-lived. The stats are in a spreadsheet form, but here are 20 questions to give an idea of the PC:
20 questions for Yazata:
[ Spoiler ]
2) For a young Idealist, here is Bongo Slade, an adept drummer who seeks the heartbeat of Gaia:
LINK to Cast of Shadows entry
Of course, both would have to be bumped up a bit to get to the 1000 karma state.
Have fun looking at them, anyway.
QUOTE (Sir_Psycho @ Jun 20 2011, 09:28 PM)
Just in the base numbers, there's a lack of definition, for example the attributes read 2/2/2/1/5/5/5/5. I understand the low physical, he's an elderly academic. But the universal 5's in mental attributes bothers me a little. A man who spent most of his life researching and teaching thaumaturgy would likely have a high Logic attribute of five or higher, but would he be equally as charismatic? It's justified if he was a lecturer, but I think it needs variation. I have the same problem with Intuition - He may be an extremely intelligent man, an academic hermetic, which excuses a high logic, but intuition is a measure of a different intelligence, your street smarts, gut instincts, your ability to read people and your situational awareness, which I can't imagine a corporate researcher/lecturer to have a lot of.
Garrett wasn't just some workaday research mage, he was the Chief Training Officer for Magical Research in Ares Macrotechnology's Seattle corporate offices. He had to both lead and command, necessitating high Charisma, and he was immersed in corporate politics at the highest levels, which is why his Intuition is so good.
QUOTE
This is again apparent in skills. Five knowledge skills, all at four except one. Eight non-native languages, all at four. Sorcery group, all fours, Conjuring Group at four, as well as Arcana and Enchanting. I get an impression that Merlin is a strong, widely skilled magician, who has a wide range of spells, but it's variance that sells the character. I don't get an impression of what it is that Arthur excels at, what areas of magic practice would be left underdeveloped in a corporate environment, or what his role was in his career. I see he's multilingual, perhaps he uses a foreign language in his Centering rituals, but he is equally proficient in all of them. Knowledge: Magical Theory is way too broad. It could cover what alchemical, chemical and physical processes must be observed to construct a orichalcum threaded helix as the bonding point for a wand to having read volumes on ritual magic in the Naga kingdom. Obviously you don't need to specify such esoteric details, but it'd be something to reconsider, branching out your knowledge skills. Also keep in mind that with college education, even knowledge skills at rating 1 will give you a good over-view of a wide range of subjects. When making magicians myself, I usually break the skillgroups up and specialise, for example, specialising in a particular category of spellcasting. This also means you can save points by avoiding skills that won't come up or don't fit the character, like Ritual Spellcasting, and while a academic magician may often summon and bind spirits to assist him, he probably doesn't have strong experience in banishing wild spirits.
I tried to pick skills based on what Arthur Garrett would be likely to need and use on a regular basis. He's a teacher, so while he probably doesn't have a lot of experience banishing wild spirits, he has to be able to teach that skill to field magicians who might need it. Instruction 5 is pretty self-explanatory; I wanted it to be 6, but I also wanted Assensing higher than 4, so I compromised. Maybe Magical Theory should be Hermetic Magical Theory, a broad-based understanding of how magic works in the Hermetic paradigm. In fact, that sounds like an excellent idea, I'll edit the sheet to reflect that. I think Ritual Spellcasting does fit the character, and not just because he might need to teach it. I would expect corporate magicians to regularly pool their abilities for various purposes, be it security or advancing the cause of Hermeticism in Ares' interest. His multilingualism is professional, partly on the corporate side and partly on the magical side. Hermeticism places a great deal of emphasis on study and rigorous experimentation; it's the closest tradition, except perhaps chaos magic, to treating magic as a science. Numerous old Hermetic grimoires and other documents are written in languages like Latin, Greek, German, and other European and Romance languages. There's also a strong Arabic influence in Hermetic magic. Japanese and Mandarin are more likely to be useful in his capacity as a corporate executive, given the strength of Asia and Asian megacorps.
QUOTE
I'm wondering how the Magic attribute is five, considering he's a level 2 initiate. Also, the force 4 power focus is a huge bonus. If I remember my focus rules right, doesn't that give you a maximum spell force of 9, without overcasting? Perhaps you could put a point or two into Magic and drop the power focus, at least to F1-2?
A power focus adds its rating in dice to all rolls involving the Magic attribute, but it does not raise the overcast limit. Force 5 is the highest Merlin can go without overcasting, and Force 10 is his absolute limit. The focus gives his spells a little more punch in terms of dice rolled (a little over one additional success, on average), but that's it.
QUOTE
The final thing I'll mention is survivability. Body 2 means you can wear a maximum of four armour points without receiving negative modifiers. On top of that, you don't have the Armour spell (ps. I'm Australian and in the interest of keeping good habits, my spelling might come out a little different-not that I expect it of you), so I see the team losing merlin to the ganger with the holdout pistol. On top of that, you have no dodge skill, so your pool for avoiding and reducing damage will be... 2. You also have only 1 IP. Invisibility is great, but sometimes you can't afford to sustain a whole bunch of spells at once, and you have no stealth skills.
This is actually deliberate. The character sheet is a snapshot of Arthur Garrett within days of being forced to abandon his old life and everything he knew. He doesn't have Dodge, Stealth or Athletics skills, or additional IPs, because he never needed them before. These will obviously be the first things he picks up as a neophyte runner, but until then I do expect to have to play him very carefully. I also expect that he'll rely heavily on Corvina for protection in the early phase of his new career, but I think she's up to it: when Materialized, she has 10/10 hardened armor from Immunity to Normal Weapons, and the power to throw lightning bolts all day long, among others.
QUOTE
I love the character concept, but the build needs work to support a viable and interesting character. An old man using magic as a crutch to cover his deficiencies is fantastic, but you have to make sure his magic can actually cover his deficiencies.
If you want to go back over it, one of the core questions that needs to be asked is "what do I love about magic in SR?". And then use the answer to add the personal touches to the character.
Finally, where would you most like to begin, in terms of Merlin's timeline. Do you want to start in the hallway, as the company-men reach for their guns, and actually roleplay the destruction of a man's life and his flight for freedom, or do you want to begin later, when his fake sin, safe house and shadow contacts are established? I'd like to begin everyone with separate scenes and then tie them together once every character has exhibited their strengths and weaknesses individually. So basically give me an impression of your vision for the character.
If you want to go back over it, one of the core questions that needs to be asked is "what do I love about magic in SR?". And then use the answer to add the personal touches to the character.
Finally, where would you most like to begin, in terms of Merlin's timeline. Do you want to start in the hallway, as the company-men reach for their guns, and actually roleplay the destruction of a man's life and his flight for freedom, or do you want to begin later, when his fake sin, safe house and shadow contacts are established? I'd like to begin everyone with separate scenes and then tie them together once every character has exhibited their strengths and weaknesses individually. So basically give me an impression of your vision for the character.
Starting in the hallway does sound interesting. It will also let me get a firm grip on how Arthur and Corvina work together, and how they behave toward each other (roleplaying for two, basically).
QUOTE (Aria @ Jun 21 2011, 06:48 AM)
I’ll take some magic theory, everyone in the Sixth world should have some...it’s even possible that Tanegar’s mage was my professor?!?
Where did your character go to school? I'm fine with the idea of Arthur having been a guest lecturer, or even working as a full-time professor during a much-needed sabbatical from his duties as an executive (he merely tolerated the bureaucratic side of his work; magic and teaching were always his passions).
I've updated a version of Silk to be an 'Artisan's Way Adept' and on the face of it she's a bit worse than she was before (mostly due to her bioware choices)...but she has agility boost now which will offset some of those weaknesses and she's closer to 'legal' which was what I was aiming at. This represents her starting point 6 months ago just as she steps into the shadows...but she learns very fast so expect a radical shift!
<<Silk>>
<<Silk>>
Like I mentioned before, this is more of a plan/wishlist rather than anything else. I will use it a guideline when we actually settle down on the character creation rules. What I can say is that it is a pretty accurate portrait of how I'd like Dexter to be, albeit he can and probably will be scaled down. Following each skill I added things he would probably specialize in, and sometimes a bit of explanation as to why he would have the skill. Also, I want to stress the fact that I added way more skills than I plan on taking.
I am NOT taking into account skills groups, at least, not for now.
I know the list is somewhat long, so I'd like to stress the fact that I'm mostly planning on having Dexter have a lot of skills, but not necessarily at an extremely high rating (well, except for all the shootin' tid bits.)
Knowledge Skills
These are in no particular order. Just what I would probably go for. Again, I've listed way more than I am going to take.
Again, list is VERY long, and I will not take everything I have, on the other hand, marked with an * the pieces that I will almost surely be taking.
CYBERWARE
[size="3"]
Gear wise, this will probably vary widely depending on the job itself. Dexter is a man who believes that gear, guns, etc... are just a part of a toolbox; you fill it with what you need for the job. What I can say for sure is that commlink wise, he'll always favour disposable/temporary ones. Concerning ID, he'll usually try to have 3; one primary, one backup and one stashed away to get out of Dodge.
I can already state that Dexter is the sort of person who will favour revolvers over semi-automatics as sidearms, on the account that they are less likely to jam, and that he can have different ammo in the same cylinder. Also, revolvers are a lot scarier
I am NOT taking into account skills groups, at least, not for now.
I know the list is somewhat long, so I'd like to stress the fact that I'm mostly planning on having Dexter have a lot of skills, but not necessarily at an extremely high rating (well, except for all the shootin' tid bits.)
[ Spoiler ]
Knowledge Skills
These are in no particular order. Just what I would probably go for. Again, I've listed way more than I am going to take.
[ Spoiler ]
Again, list is VERY long, and I will not take everything
I have, on the other hand, marked with an * the pieces that I will almost surely be taking.CYBERWARE
[size="3"]
[ Spoiler ]
Gear wise, this will probably vary widely depending on the job itself. Dexter is a man who believes that gear, guns, etc... are just a part of a toolbox; you fill it with what you need for the job. What I can say for sure is that commlink wise, he'll always favour disposable/temporary ones. Concerning ID, he'll usually try to have 3; one primary, one backup and one stashed away to get out of Dodge.
I can already state that Dexter is the sort of person who will favour revolvers over semi-automatics as sidearms, on the account that they are less likely to jam, and that he can have different ammo in the same cylinder. Also, revolvers are a lot scarier
QUOTE (Tanegar @ Jun 21 2011, 02:56 PM)
Garrett wasn't just some workaday research mage, he was the Chief Training Officer for Magical Research in Ares Macrotechnology's Seattle corporate offices. He had to both lead and command, necessitating high Charisma, and he was immersed in corporate politics at the highest levels, which is why his Intuition is so good.
I'm not just being pedantic about the numbers, am I?
Perhaps.
QUOTE
I tried to pick skills based on what Arthur Garrett would be likely to need and use on a regular basis. He's a teacher, so while he probably doesn't have a lot of experience banishing wild spirits, he has to be able to teach that skill to field magicians who might need it. Instruction 5 is pretty self-explanatory; I wanted it to be 6, but I also wanted Assensing higher than 4, so I compromised. Maybe Magical Theory should be Hermetic Magical Theory, a broad-based understanding of how magic works in the Hermetic paradigm. In fact, that sounds like an excellent idea, I'll edit the sheet to reflect that. I think Ritual Spellcasting does fit the character, and not just because he might need to teach it. I would expect corporate magicians to regularly pool their abilities for various purposes, be it security or advancing the cause of Hermeticism in Ares' interest. His multilingualism is professional, partly on the corporate side and partly on the magical side. Hermeticism places a great deal of emphasis on study and rigorous experimentation; it's the closest tradition, except perhaps chaos magic, to treating magic as a science. Numerous old Hermetic grimoires and other documents are written in languages like Latin, Greek, German, and other European and Romance languages. There's also a strong Arabic influence in Hermetic magic. Japanese and Mandarin are more likely to be useful in his capacity as a corporate executive, given the strength of Asia and Asian megacorps.
I agree that those are all good languages for a academic hermetic to learn. My problem is that no one, no matter how intelligent, is equally talented or dedicated across an area that broad. He might have found Latin rolled better off the tongue than greek, He's good with arabic text and formulae but he can't get the gutteral sounds, etc. I only object to universal fours in every language he's ever tried his hand in.
I had a look through SR3's Mr. Johnson's Little Black Book and some others to give you some examples of magician characters' knowledge skills.
-Hermetic Academic: Academic Politics, History, Library Research, Magic Esoterica, Magic Theory
-Lorekeeper: Ancient Languages, Archaeology, Anthropology, Magic Background, Magic History, Magic Theory, Metaplanes, Spell Design, Talismongering
-Antiquities and Oddities Dealer: Appraisal, Botany, Greek, Latin, Mythology, Parazoology, talismongering (analysis)
-Artificer/Enchanter: Appraisal, Chemistry, fantasy sims, Magical Theory, Metallurgy, Smithing, Talismongering, Woodworking
-Talislegger: Botany, Law, Lore Shops, Magic Groups, Magical Locations, Magical Talismans, Parazoology, Smugglers, Talismongering
-Paramed Shaman: Anatomy, Herbalism, Medicine, Pilates
-Street Mage p74 SR3: Magic Background, Magical Groups, Magical Threats, Named Spirits, Parapsychology, Sperethiel
Going through some of these reminded me that Etiquette (corporate) would be a suitable choice. The main point is these archetypes are general, designed to be deployed anywhere, and even though many knowledge skills overlap, it sometimes only takes one or two to define them from eachother, or give us an idea to their personal interests. You mentioned Hermeticism as a science, perhaps Arthur Garrett has a wide grounding in scientific disciplines, as i'm sure things like mathematics, chemistry, metallurgy, botany/parabotany, mythology, zoology, biology and more could be useful. A mage in a laboratory is fairly useless without good procedural conduct. Also, some personal interests would help. I noticed a film camera in your gear list. I'm a wet film buff myself, maybe your character could be into photography.
QUOTE
A power focus adds its rating in dice to all rolls involving the Magic attribute, but it does not raise the overcast limit. Force 5 is the highest Merlin can go without overcasting, and Force 10 is his absolute limit. The focus gives his spells a little more punch in terms of dice rolled (a little over one additional success, on average), but that's it.
Of course. That's fine. But what about the magic level only being five? Hasn't the initiation changed that?QUOTE
This is actually deliberate. The character sheet is a snapshot of Arthur Garrett within days of being forced to abandon his old life and everything he knew. He doesn't have Dodge, Stealth or Athletics skills, or additional IPs, because he never needed them before. These will obviously be the first things he picks up as a neophyte runner, but until then I do expect to have to play him very carefully. I also expect that he'll rely heavily on Corvina for protection in the early phase of his new career, but I think she's up to it: when Materialized, she has 10/10 hardened armor from Immunity to Normal Weapons, and the power to throw lightning bolts all day long, among others.
Maybe you could take an initiative boosting spell and at the very least the Armour spell, so I can rest easier when some-one tries to shoot you? Corvina does balance the lack of IPs, by basically giving you her initiative to kill things. She does scare me a little, I'll need some mechanism to ensure she isn't a solution to every problem. Does she have any sort of magical protection/concealment/movement powers? Because that could really increase Arthur's survivability. And I must say, thank you, thank you for not going for a Possession tradition.
When it comes to roleplaying Corvina, do you want exclusive access, or can I roleplay her at times as an NPC? You may have to notify me via PM or OOC before you act out as her, as I can't allow her to become a complete extension of your character, if you understand.
I hope you don't mind me picking apart your character, but you are the first one with a working sheet, so I figure we have time to beat out a few versions until we get something we're both happy with.
QUOTE
Starting in the hallway does sound interesting. It will also let me get a firm grip on how Arthur and Corvina work together, and how they behave toward each other (roleplaying for two, basically).
I was thinking, considering your character has some gear already, perhaps the game can start after or just as Arthur has crafted Corvina. Perhaps he left the office on vacation time to visit a mana-rich site and Initiate/craft an ally, do some field work, and that's why he's got a little armour and a duffel bag with some field gear. Given you're probably going to start out homeless and broke, a bit of survival gear wouldn't go amiss, and on the streets a slap patch or a survival knife could ensure you a whole night of protection in trade.
You could receive a call from a co-worker saying that something big is going down and you have to get back there immediately, so you come back to the research lab straight from the airport, and everything goes to hell from there.
QUOTE
Where did your character go to school? I'm fine with the idea of Arthur having been a guest lecturer, or even working as a full-time professor during a much-needed sabbatical from his duties as an executive (he merely tolerated the bureaucratic side of his work; magic and teaching were always his passions).
You guys can work this out between you, but maybe the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Thaumaturgy? My US geography isn't great, but I assume the closest city to MIT&T is Boston? That'd be an interesting starting point, considering it's a UCAS city there is probably a decent Ares presence, but the loss of the Stock Exchange to New York may have financially drained the city, leaving a crime wave for Merlin to sink into. Is there a reputable University closer to Seattle?
QUOTE (Aria @ Jun 21 2011, 03:59 PM)
I've updated a version of Silk to be an 'Artisan's Way Adept' and on the face of it she's a bit worse than she was before (mostly due to her bioware choices)...but she has agility boost now which will offset some of those weaknesses and she's closer to 'legal' which was what I was aiming at. This represents her starting point 6 months ago just as she steps into the shadows...but she learns very fast so expect a radical shift!
<<Silk>>
<<Silk>>
The I had a look and it still says 400bp? Also it still says twenty-one. I don't have a problem with a young prodigy. Spending her teen years living with her mother off the grid in low sec zones could explain a whole lot of things, decent physical attributes, stealth and combat skills, etc. there's also no reason a young academic can't be fit. But of course Silk was too smart and driven to just because an adept shadowrunner, so her mother pulled strings to get her into MIT&T (unless you want some-where else). That's where the age problem comes in. Just getting a degree in one discipline can take years, let alone whatever varied curriculum an Evo sponsored bio-adept changeling takes, it just doesn't seem feasible that she would have gotten that much out of it by the age of 21. 23? 25? Maybe.
If she's an Artisan adept, what's her focus? How does she perceive her magic? I'm wondering how it filters into a B&E specialist. Now we have Tanegar you're really a bit more free to branch out and become a better generalist. I wanted to remind you that we still need a face, as the other two team members are at the very least a little salt and pepper, and a kind word and soft eye from a twenty-something year old co-ed can sometimes be the ultimate weapon.
My personal favourite adept powers are nimble fingers (can open up your IPs a little in combat [free reload anyone?] and a bonus to pickpocketing and the like) and combat sense (don't get hit by bullets. Just don't.).
QUOTE (Mister Juan @ Jun 21 2011, 06:56 PM)
Like I mentioned before, this is more of a plan/wishlist rather than anything else. I will use it a guideline when we actually settle down on the character creation rules. What I can say is that it is a pretty accurate portrait of how I'd like Dexter to be, albeit he can and probably will be scaled down. Following each skill I added things he would probably specialize in, and sometimes a bit of explanation as to why he would have the skill. Also, I want to stress the fact that I added way more skills than I plan on taking.
I am NOT taking into account skills groups, at least, not for now.
I know the list is somewhat long, so I'd like to stress the fact that I'm mostly planning on having Dexter have a lot of skills, but not necessarily at an extremely high rating (well, except for all the shootin' tid bits.)
Knowledge Skills
These are in no particular order. Just what I would probably go for. Again, I've listed way more than I am going to take.
Again, list is VERY long, and I will not take everything I have, on the other hand, marked with an * the pieces that I will almost surely be taking.
CYBERWARE
[size="3"]
Gear wise, this will probably vary widely depending on the job itself. Dexter is a man who believes that gear, guns, etc... are just a part of a toolbox; you fill it with what you need for the job. What I can say for sure is that commlink wise, he'll always favour disposable/temporary ones. Concerning ID, he'll usually try to have 3; one primary, one backup and one stashed away to get out of Dodge.
I can already state that Dexter is the sort of person who will favour revolvers over semi-automatics as sidearms, on the account that they are less likely to jam, and that he can have different ammo in the same cylinder. Also, revolvers are a lot scarier
I am NOT taking into account skills groups, at least, not for now.
I know the list is somewhat long, so I'd like to stress the fact that I'm mostly planning on having Dexter have a lot of skills, but not necessarily at an extremely high rating (well, except for all the shootin' tid bits.)
[ Spoiler ]
Knowledge Skills
These are in no particular order. Just what I would probably go for. Again, I've listed way more than I am going to take.
[ Spoiler ]
Again, list is VERY long, and I will not take everything
I have, on the other hand, marked with an * the pieces that I will almost surely be taking.CYBERWARE
[size="3"]
[ Spoiler ]
Gear wise, this will probably vary widely depending on the job itself. Dexter is a man who believes that gear, guns, etc... are just a part of a toolbox; you fill it with what you need for the job. What I can say for sure is that commlink wise, he'll always favour disposable/temporary ones. Concerning ID, he'll usually try to have 3; one primary, one backup and one stashed away to get out of Dodge.
I can already state that Dexter is the sort of person who will favour revolvers over semi-automatics as sidearms, on the account that they are less likely to jam, and that he can have different ammo in the same cylinder. Also, revolvers are a lot scarier
I wrote a large post going through everything that jumped out at me, noting your skill choices and possible specialisations. but the window was closed, mostly, everything looks really good. Just remember that with Karmagen knowledge and supplementary active skills at r1 or r2 are so cheap they are negligible costs, so I'd be disappointed if a lot of the things on that list were canned. Another thing is modular cyberlimbs. They can be just as strong, but it allows you to switch from a legal arm you can get on a plane with and a Ghost In The Shell style shotgun arm. I love the idea of an old merc who with time has become unable to keep up with the prosthetic that was designed to keep up with him - "What am I? A walking gun platform?"
To all: I'm thinking of editing the original post with house rules and build rules. Before I do, has anyone got any requests?
QUOTE (Sir_Psycho @ Jun 21 2011, 11:58 PM)
Another thing is modular cyberlimbs. They can be just as strong, but it allows you to switch from a legal arm you can get on a plane with and a Ghost In The Shell style shotgun arm. I love the idea of an old merc who with time has become unable to keep up with the prosthetic that was designed to keep up with him - "What am I? A walking gun platform?"
I have to admit I hadn't considered the modular cyberlimb mod. Originally, Dexter had lost his right arm to a mortar shell, and had it replaced almost 25 years ago, which is why I've always insisted that said arm should be extremely obviously a cyberarm. I wouldn't even be against having "Propriety of CAS Marine Corps" laser etched on it. But, now that you've mentioned Ghost In The Shell, I can't help but think that having a proper cybergun shotgun would be ridiculously bad
So yea, consider my interested piqued
I just realized didn't make a contact list! I'll get on that tomorrow for sure.
I'm a supporter of the obvious cyber-arm, and that it's CAS military issue. Of course, after 25 years, it's probably had so many parts repaired and replaced that the only original components are the casing and where they grafted the support structure to your bones.
Perhaps a faded CAS First Recon Marine insignia (such as this and this or this) I assume he was First Recon, right?
As I'm working out Tanegar's initial circumstances in game, I figure we could talk about yours? I was thinking you could be contracted by some caraquenos moving a convoy of rebels through Aztlan controlled jungle as a consultant, but you find yourself having to pull off a dangerous tactical maneuver to ensure the safety of the group, and afterwards finding yourself needing medical attention and cyber-ware repair with a contact in Seattle or Boston. Sound good?
Also, how's the build going?
QUOTE
having "Propriety of CAS Marine Corps" laser etched on it.
Perhaps a faded CAS First Recon Marine insignia (such as this and this or this) I assume he was First Recon, right?
As I'm working out Tanegar's initial circumstances in game, I figure we could talk about yours? I was thinking you could be contracted by some caraquenos moving a convoy of rebels through Aztlan controlled jungle as a consultant, but you find yourself having to pull off a dangerous tactical maneuver to ensure the safety of the group, and afterwards finding yourself needing medical attention and cyber-ware repair with a contact in Seattle or Boston. Sound good?
Also, how's the build going?
QUOTE (Sir_Psycho @ Jun 22 2011, 04:58 AM)
You guys can work this out between you, but maybe the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Thaumaturgy? My US geography isn't great, but I assume the closest city to MIT&T is Boston? That'd be an interesting starting point, considering it's a UCAS city there is probably a decent Ares presence, but the loss of the Stock Exchange to New York may have financially drained the city, leaving a crime wave for Merlin to sink into. Is there a reputable University closer to Seattle?
I originally wrote it so that Silk was at Seattle Uni but it would fit the 'new' background better if it was elsewhere in the UCAS...I'm thinking Harvard (Boston) as I've visited it and recently seen the Social Network
. Prestigious and top notch but not MIT&T!Merlin could easily be a visiting prof there?!?
I'll confess my knowledge of the American education system is limited to films & TV but I assume that age 23 (sorry, copy paste error in the 400bp post) she is coming towards the completion of a multi disciplinary masters degree?!?
Timeline request: Can we set it at the end of the summer in '72? Silk has been in Seattle all summer chasing leads (working in a coffee shop in the Seattle University district to maintain her 'cover') and she needs to decide whether to go back and complete her studies or carry on the elusive hunt!
QUOTE
The I had a look and it still says 400bp? Also it still says twenty-one. I don't have a problem with a young prodigy. Spending her teen years living with her mother off the grid in low sec zones could explain a whole lot of things, decent physical attributes, stealth and combat skills, etc. there's also no reason a young academic can't be fit. But of course Silk was too smart and driven to just because an adept shadowrunner, so her mother pulled strings to get her into MIT&T (unless you want some-where else). That's where the age problem comes in. Just getting a degree in one discipline can take years, let alone whatever varied curriculum an Evo sponsored bio-adept changeling takes, it just doesn't seem feasible that she would have gotten that much out of it by the age of 21. 23? 25? Maybe.
If she's an Artisan adept, what's her focus? How does she perceive her magic? I'm wondering how it filters into a B&E specialist. Now we have Tanegar you're really a bit more free to branch out and become a better generalist. I wanted to remind you that we still need a face, as the other two team members are at the very least a little salt and pepper, and a kind word and soft eye from a twenty-something year old co-ed can sometimes be the ultimate weapon.
My personal favourite adept powers are nimble fingers (can open up your IPs a little in combat [free reload anyone?] and a bonus to pickpocketing and the like) and combat sense (don't get hit by bullets. Just don't.).
If she's an Artisan adept, what's her focus? How does she perceive her magic? I'm wondering how it filters into a B&E specialist. Now we have Tanegar you're really a bit more free to branch out and become a better generalist. I wanted to remind you that we still need a face, as the other two team members are at the very least a little salt and pepper, and a kind word and soft eye from a twenty-something year old co-ed can sometimes be the ultimate weapon.
My personal favourite adept powers are nimble fingers (can open up your IPs a little in combat [free reload anyone?] and a bonus to pickpocketing and the like) and combat sense (don't get hit by bullets. Just don't.).
Yes, 400 BP is how I created those stats...will convert to karmagen and should have loads left over
21 was a typo - I'm going for 23
So Harvard on a NeoNet scholarship...she keeps herself fit with dance/gymnastics and she had a good background from her past where she picked up limited combat skills that she has recently improved.
She sees patterns in things - in everything! But especially in the way that technology meshes together (is that too vague?!?). The B&E specialist comes from her childhood infatuation with the urban ninja of the trids, and perhaps Escapade from the Balefire team. She just happens to know how the tech works and how to circumvent it!
Will invest in some face skills - if you can't sneak in, bluff in! Fits the image...
I'll tweak her background with the Harvard stuff when I rewrite for 1000 karma
Keep the questions/comments coming - helps to have a second opinion (wood from the trees etc
)
Equipment request: I would like to get an Infusion 4 focus (Astral perception) [Digital Grimoire] combined with a weapon focus...all would be fine except technically it's availability 40 which is crazy (typo??) - particulaly as they use astral perception as the example text!
It would give me the power, I wouldn't suffer drain to use it but the focus becomes inactive for the same amount of time it was active (don't know if that would affect the weapon focus too as the combining is a roleplay rather than rules thing?!?)
It would give me the power, I wouldn't suffer drain to use it but the focus becomes inactive for the same amount of time it was active (don't know if that would affect the weapon focus too as the combining is a roleplay rather than rules thing?!?)
So why Neonet rather than Evo? I'm sure all Megas have university scholarship programs, of course, but Evo does play on the changeling aspect. Also, MIT&T would totally accept a cognitively enhanced adept with an innate understanding of technology, and would accept a professor like Dr. Garett. Harvard is fine too, but it always makes me imagine lawyers, stockbrokers and archaeologists, not like MIT&T, which screams Silk and Merlin, respectively.
The idea of an adept who constantly absorbs and reconstructs stimulus into patterns and concepts is a great idea. As a foundation for your adept powers, it's awesome too. She's not a Warrior adept, but she could blow the lights with an AR command and shoot three guards dead by analyzing their patterns and the environment to track potential paths. It makes sense that some-one like this would be incredibly skilled with software and electronics, perhaps having a preternatural ability to understand the function of an object from it's components. There's heaps of Powers and advanced Qualities that would represent that.
Edit: I haven't read Digital Grimoire, but I grimaced slightly as I read that. I would much prefer high level foci to be something that are required through play. I wouldn't mind such a mind-blowingly powerful tool if there had been some worthwhile roleplay to acquire it. Merlin has Arcana and Enchanting, perhaps he could help you craft it. In fact, I'm planning on playing on the relationship between Merlin and Silk, there's so many great hooks. The age differential is huge, but they're both academic, both awakened, both experienced corporate leash of sponsorship
To make up for that, you could get two levels of initiation, for a maximum of 8, to reflect her finding her Way and honing her skills, first by attending Uni and now by searching for answers about shrikes murder and double-life. That gives you heaps of power points to play with, maybe Centering (which Merlin could have taught), and masking would be a very good idea so you could be stealthy against magical opponents as well. Alternatively, there's cultured or even beta grade bioware (Yamatetsu/Evo have always been a top bioware producer.).
The idea of an adept who constantly absorbs and reconstructs stimulus into patterns and concepts is a great idea. As a foundation for your adept powers, it's awesome too. She's not a Warrior adept, but she could blow the lights with an AR command and shoot three guards dead by analyzing their patterns and the environment to track potential paths. It makes sense that some-one like this would be incredibly skilled with software and electronics, perhaps having a preternatural ability to understand the function of an object from it's components. There's heaps of Powers and advanced Qualities that would represent that.
Edit: I haven't read Digital Grimoire, but I grimaced slightly as I read that. I would much prefer high level foci to be something that are required through play. I wouldn't mind such a mind-blowingly powerful tool if there had been some worthwhile roleplay to acquire it. Merlin has Arcana and Enchanting, perhaps he could help you craft it. In fact, I'm planning on playing on the relationship between Merlin and Silk, there's so many great hooks. The age differential is huge, but they're both academic, both awakened, both experienced corporate leash of sponsorship
To make up for that, you could get two levels of initiation, for a maximum of 8, to reflect her finding her Way and honing her skills, first by attending Uni and now by searching for answers about shrikes murder and double-life. That gives you heaps of power points to play with, maybe Centering (which Merlin could have taught), and masking would be a very good idea so you could be stealthy against magical opponents as well. Alternatively, there's cultured or even beta grade bioware (Yamatetsu/Evo have always been a top bioware producer.).
NeoNet had more computer stuff than Evo but I'm not really fussed... They are both interesting! the changeling stuff was really about making a 'slightly' orcy character without them being middle aged at 20! Her mother was Orc with human looking but I wanted something a bit different for Silk... I don't see it as her defining feature!
Happy to hold off on the focus... would be good to get Merlon to craft it. I may get a RT 1 one so that he has an example to work from
Happy to hold off on the focus... would be good to get Merlon to craft it. I may get a RT 1 one so that he has an example to work from
A weapon focus? Maybe, it really depends on how it would relate to your character. A knife? Seems more like a weapon for a cut-throat sprawl kid, or a military operative. It could be a club, but what sort of blunt weapon is a focus? Certainly not a baton. You wouldn't want a full on mace, would you? I can't imagine it yet. For now make sure you have some sort of close combat. It makes sense your mother or her runner friends would teach self-defense, but not to the point of "I learned how to stab some-one at twelve".
QUOTE (Sir_Psycho @ Jun 22 2011, 10:45 AM)
A weapon focus? Maybe, it really depends on how it would relate to your character. A knife? Seems more like a weapon for a cut-throat sprawl kid, or a military operative. It could be a club, but what sort of blunt weapon is a focus? Certainly not a baton. You wouldn't want a full on mace, would you? I can't imagine it yet. For now make sure you have some sort of close combat. It makes sense your mother or her runner friends would teach self-defense, but not to the point of "I learned how to stab some-one at twelve".
I certainly wasn't going to go with a knife - I was thinking of a crafted 'stick' that doesn't look much like a weapon, in keeping with Silk's stealthy (& hide in plain sight) nature. Alternatively it could be a telescoping staff (B5 Ranger anyone?!?), in fact i like that idea...hmmmm
Any thoughts on my timeline request? Does it fit in with the other chracters?
The end of summer is fine, if you can tell me when the end of summer is in Boston (confirmation pending). Does it have to be 2072? I could make use of things from Emergence and Ghost Cartels, if you like.
A telescoping staff seems cool, and quite concealable under a jacket, but again, I'd wait until the game starts to procure a focus. Don't worry about the 40 availability, it'll be a roleplaying thing, or a reward for services rendered.
A telescoping staff seems cool, and quite concealable under a jacket, but again, I'd wait until the game starts to procure a focus. Don't worry about the 40 availability, it'll be a roleplaying thing, or a reward for services rendered.
I only suggested '72 as it would then tie in with the 2072 campaign that was going on here on DS last year. Silk was my character for that and she was just coming out of her pit at the beginning of the year (so the rest of the time is to get good ). I prefer to not contradict what's gone before but I'm not going to throw a tantrum over it (I've already rewritten Silk's stats so it's not set in stone!) Emergence would be good (all my games have had tenuous links to it) and I don't know Ghost Cartels at all.
I'll probably buy the staff and get it enchanted in game then...makes more sense to me than coming at it cold
Starting the build now...it'll take a while...will try and get a contact list up for comment before I finish it off though
). I prefer to not contradict what's gone before but I'm not going to throw a tantrum over it (I've already rewritten Silk's stats so it's not set in stone!) Emergence would be good (all my games have had tenuous links to it) and I don't know Ghost Cartels at all.I'll probably buy the staff and get it enchanted in game then...makes more sense to me than coming at it cold
Starting the build now...it'll take a while...will try and get a contact list up for comment before I finish it off though
I wouldn't mind getting contacts before character builds, because then I have something to do as well.
Work in progress contact list (110BPs so far!!!). I've covered a lot of bases and hope I haven't gone overboard?!? I see Silk as having more contacts than skills at this stage in her career! I'll continue to fill in details and look forward to comments
Is there anything obvious I've missed?
Contacts:
*Indicates one of Mother’s past associates [Metatype & Archetype – likely meeting location]
Matrix
Aria* [Information Broker/Hacker – matrix meets only] [L:5 C:5]
Aria is my sanity, which is ironic as she appears on the matrix as a glowing ten year old girl with a mischievous streak as wide as the Aztechnology pyramid! On the face of it she pretends to avoid responsibility but she looks after her friends and I’m very glad to be one of them. She was Balefire’s hacker and only just escaped the destruction that was rained down on us. She has withdrawn herself from the active shadows but keeps her ear to the ground and delights in dredging up obscure information and secrets. She acts as my agent in dealings with fixers and keeps an eye out over me. We’ve never actually met in the flesh but I only occasionally regret that – she is a creature of the matrix and that is her domain.
GM Info
Summer [Human technomancer – matrix meets only] [L:1 C:3]
I’ve been introduced to Summer a few times, Aria brought her along to one of our gaming sessions where she exhibited ways of tricking the code that I would expect of Aria. Although I’ve never met her in the flesh I know she’s just a kid – you can tell by the way she talks – but she has a heavy burden: I get the impression that she somehow has glimpses of the future, something about information being out there on the ‘trix and seeing the patterns, although in a different way to how I do it. I won’t be bugging her directly but there’s a chance that she may see something as she is tied up in all this in some way too.
GM Info
ShadowSEA [Shadow node – matrix only] [L:1 C:2 G: 7]
It’s hardly a secret that this node exists but it occasionally has useful nuggets of data amongst the vast sea of dross. I’ve deliberately not made a rep for myself here, it’s too clogged with wannabees and far too public despite the supposed security.
GM Info
Academic
Oliver Banks [Human student / coffee shop worker – coffee shop / student doss] [L:3 C:2]
I met Oli when I came back to Seattle for the summer and got a job in a lively little coffee shop in the university district. We hit it off immediately and he’s been an invaluable source of surprisingly accurate gossip on street info. He is an excellent listener and despite students’ reputations as living in our own little world there is little that doesn’t eventually filter through here – good coffee being the great equaliser and the place being a haven for all sorts.
GM Info
Professor Cassidy [Dwarven corporate studies prof. – online / Boston lecture hall] [L:2 C:4]
If anyone knows what’s happening in the corporate world it’s the Professor. Despite the fact that his contract is paid for by the corps he has staked his reputation on impartiality which has served well. It’s only a rumour but I suspect the reason that his intel is so accurate is because he dips his toes in the shadows for his best information.
GM Info
Samuel [Human dance instructor, gossip – Boston night club] [L:2 C:3]
I’ve always enjoyed pushing myself physically as well as mentally and Sam’s classes are legendary! More to the point now though is that he knows what is going on in the media spotlight, almost before the media corps can splash it across the ‘trix.
GM Info
Street
Stillwater Community [Transhumanists – Stillwater, Redmond] [L:1 C:3 G: 6]
There are less than one hundred of the community left now after the devastating attack in ’70.
GM Info
Wolf Pack [Initiatory Group – Stillwater, Redmond] [L:1 C: 3 G: 6]
The Wolf Pack is desperately trying to rebuild its strength and the thirteen of them welcomed me and have given me a chance to access the mysteries of initiation. I haven’t joined them as my quest prevents me from taking the oath that they require but are goals are sufficiently aligned that they did not mind sharing some of their secrets.
GM Info
Requiem [Elven Samurai – Redmond dojo] [L:4 C:2]
Requiem, my sensei, and for a while lover. Despite the gap in our ages we got along very well until Aria sensibly ‘stepped’ in and put us both straight. I learnt a lot from him and the military skills he has given me will serve me well when I find out who was behind Deep Watch’s contract. He’s a former Ares man and I get the impression he really didn’t like what he saw...I don’t think he was in Chicago but he has an irrational fear of insects!
GM Info
He-Who-Sees-Within [Human shaman – edge of Redmond] [L:5 C:2]
He-Who-Sees is a snake shaman, part time runner and secrets gatherer and most importantly a gifted healer. Sadly the last one is reason I see most of him now. He helped me out when I first stepped in to the shadows and his skills have kept me out of the fire several times.
GM Info
Cannon* [Human merc / dealer – back of his travelling tech haven] [L:1 C:3]
GM Info
The Brotherhood* [Fixer group – usually online] [L:1 C:4 G:7]
GM Info
Peter Kemp* [FBI agent Seattle – online or downtown bar] [L:1 C:5]
GM Info
Michael* [Professional Forger – obscure places, never the same twice] [L:1 C:4]
GM Info
EDIT: Qucik check shows me I've probably spent too much on contacts - will need more cash for programs otherwise any IC is going to hand my arse to me on a plate...I think I need to stress that hacking is going to be a secondary skill for Silk, she's not going to be hacking Renraku for you!!!
Is there anything obvious I've missed?
Contacts:
*Indicates one of Mother’s past associates [Metatype & Archetype – likely meeting location]
Matrix
Aria* [Information Broker/Hacker – matrix meets only] [L:5 C:5]
Aria is my sanity, which is ironic as she appears on the matrix as a glowing ten year old girl with a mischievous streak as wide as the Aztechnology pyramid! On the face of it she pretends to avoid responsibility but she looks after her friends and I’m very glad to be one of them. She was Balefire’s hacker and only just escaped the destruction that was rained down on us. She has withdrawn herself from the active shadows but keeps her ear to the ground and delights in dredging up obscure information and secrets. She acts as my agent in dealings with fixers and keeps an eye out over me. We’ve never actually met in the flesh but I only occasionally regret that – she is a creature of the matrix and that is her domain.
GM Info
[ Spoiler ]
Summer [Human technomancer – matrix meets only] [L:1 C:3]
I’ve been introduced to Summer a few times, Aria brought her along to one of our gaming sessions where she exhibited ways of tricking the code that I would expect of Aria. Although I’ve never met her in the flesh I know she’s just a kid – you can tell by the way she talks – but she has a heavy burden: I get the impression that she somehow has glimpses of the future, something about information being out there on the ‘trix and seeing the patterns, although in a different way to how I do it. I won’t be bugging her directly but there’s a chance that she may see something as she is tied up in all this in some way too.
GM Info
[ Spoiler ]
ShadowSEA [Shadow node – matrix only] [L:1 C:2 G: 7]
It’s hardly a secret that this node exists but it occasionally has useful nuggets of data amongst the vast sea of dross. I’ve deliberately not made a rep for myself here, it’s too clogged with wannabees and far too public despite the supposed security.
GM Info
[ Spoiler ]
Academic
Oliver Banks [Human student / coffee shop worker – coffee shop / student doss] [L:3 C:2]
I met Oli when I came back to Seattle for the summer and got a job in a lively little coffee shop in the university district. We hit it off immediately and he’s been an invaluable source of surprisingly accurate gossip on street info. He is an excellent listener and despite students’ reputations as living in our own little world there is little that doesn’t eventually filter through here – good coffee being the great equaliser and the place being a haven for all sorts.
GM Info
[ Spoiler ]
Professor Cassidy [Dwarven corporate studies prof. – online / Boston lecture hall] [L:2 C:4]
If anyone knows what’s happening in the corporate world it’s the Professor. Despite the fact that his contract is paid for by the corps he has staked his reputation on impartiality which has served well. It’s only a rumour but I suspect the reason that his intel is so accurate is because he dips his toes in the shadows for his best information.
GM Info
[ Spoiler ]
Samuel [Human dance instructor, gossip – Boston night club] [L:2 C:3]
I’ve always enjoyed pushing myself physically as well as mentally and Sam’s classes are legendary! More to the point now though is that he knows what is going on in the media spotlight, almost before the media corps can splash it across the ‘trix.
GM Info
[ Spoiler ]
Street
Stillwater Community [Transhumanists – Stillwater, Redmond] [L:1 C:3 G: 6]
There are less than one hundred of the community left now after the devastating attack in ’70.
GM Info
[ Spoiler ]
Wolf Pack [Initiatory Group – Stillwater, Redmond] [L:1 C: 3 G: 6]
The Wolf Pack is desperately trying to rebuild its strength and the thirteen of them welcomed me and have given me a chance to access the mysteries of initiation. I haven’t joined them as my quest prevents me from taking the oath that they require but are goals are sufficiently aligned that they did not mind sharing some of their secrets.
GM Info
[ Spoiler ]
Requiem [Elven Samurai – Redmond dojo] [L:4 C:2]
Requiem, my sensei, and for a while lover. Despite the gap in our ages we got along very well until Aria sensibly ‘stepped’ in and put us both straight. I learnt a lot from him and the military skills he has given me will serve me well when I find out who was behind Deep Watch’s contract. He’s a former Ares man and I get the impression he really didn’t like what he saw...I don’t think he was in Chicago but he has an irrational fear of insects!
GM Info
[ Spoiler ]
He-Who-Sees-Within [Human shaman – edge of Redmond] [L:5 C:2]
He-Who-Sees is a snake shaman, part time runner and secrets gatherer and most importantly a gifted healer. Sadly the last one is reason I see most of him now. He helped me out when I first stepped in to the shadows and his skills have kept me out of the fire several times.
GM Info
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Cannon* [Human merc / dealer – back of his travelling tech haven] [L:1 C:3]
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The Brotherhood* [Fixer group – usually online] [L:1 C:4 G:7]
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Peter Kemp* [FBI agent Seattle – online or downtown bar] [L:1 C:5]
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Michael* [Professional Forger – obscure places, never the same twice] [L:1 C:4]
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EDIT: Qucik check shows me I've probably spent too much on contacts - will need more cash for programs otherwise any IC is going to hand my arse to me on a plate...I think I need to stress that hacking is going to be a secondary skill for Silk, she's not going to be hacking Renraku for you!!!
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