Well, except in the movie "Aliens"

Depends if you're carrying a smartgun or not *8->

I should have my character turned in within the hour. Hope I'm not too late.

Sphynx

Game won't start for 2 weeks. I get the impression that Shadow isn't even going to start looking at characters for a while...

Plenty of time.

Yes, Beast and I can be very discreet about our looting. Like this: "Look, a distraction!" *loot*

So far characters submissions from

-Beast of Revolutions
-Tziluthi
-Panzergiest
-A clockwork Lime.
-Sphynx

Ok this is moving along nicely. I have made some plans for my games and I think what we are going to do is end character submission on the 16th of April. That will give me the weekend to decide what characters will be best. I will let everyone know via email or PM who got in and who didn't. It is important that everyone email me their character so I have a hard copy and an email address for you, kelvaris@dragonbaitstudio.com.

I see a lot of variety in everyone ideas, and I like it a lot.

@ BGMFH, you said you sent me a character but I never received it... did you send it?

Awww, you bastardized my name. I feel so loved. <wipes away a tear>

I'm playing a shaman and Panzer is a tech wiz with some good combat skills; what kind of characters are lime and tziluthi doing?

I submitted (as opposed to "playing") a dwarf of Hawai'ian ancestory by the name of Cosmo, at least in this crazy world of smog and meat puppets. On the electron battlefield he's the Mad Hatter, a technological savant with computers and electronics and a prodigy with cryptography and advanced mathetical theory.

Shadow? Did you not get my message with the character sheet? (Should I re-send?)

Sphynx

Oh, and for those interested, my character is a Raven Shaman as well, who has a bit of cyber including a smartlink and a nice Knowsoft Link and access to 20+ language softs including some rather archaic languages. He specializes in Telekinetic spells and is an Initiate.

Sphynx

I did get the link, sorry I forgot to add you. Can you email me the link. kelvaris@dragonbaitstudio.com

And I kind of resent your sig. I like to think I run the best (at least in the top ten) online SR games

Heh, that's ok. The site is in testing stages still anyhows. It's just propaganda to get people to run games there so that games are a bit more orderly.

Sphynx

Sphynx,

I did a cursory of your character and I have a question, Dwarves and elves are born, they don't mutate at puberty. You list the Birthdate as 2008... pre-awakening.

Yes, 3 years ahead. Pre-Spike there were some elves/dwarves born, the goblinization is what didn't happen until then (or at least that's what I read...) I don't mind putting it a few years later, but thought it cool to be one of the oldest dwarves alive.

Sphynx

Thats fine, I just wanted to make sure he was born a dwarf... uhm hes going to be 56 years old when the game starts. That's a new one. Most people only play 17-26.

My character's a covert ops type.

Pfft. I almost always play older characters. There's a certain charm to it.

Hm, I was planning on a snake sorcerer adept with mostly detection and [edit]illusion[/edit] spells some technical skills as well, more of an analytical type, so I guess he's "different enough." Scraping together enough for a decent deck seems like such a fool's errand in this case, but eh, it's what Ive been wanting to play, so here we go.

Ok, my character is mostly done. I'll put all the finishing touches and fluff (mmmm... fluff) on it tomorrow and have it ready by the end of the day.

I'll either be a Special Ops Ex-Corp type or a gun slinger/sword fighter...we'll see.

Hey, Shadow, do you have MS Excel?

I do. I have Office Xp both at home and work.

I hope everyone is having as much fun making their characters as I am planning their demise missions.

I am enjoying, though I have had to design a char sheet in Excel to be able to send them to you

Still working my butt off on the rigger though.

Thank you. The night before last I started converting Stargate tech to SR terms and so far it has been a lot of fun. I enjoy exercising my imagination this way. I go to decide what has happened to the rest of the universe in the last 50 years.

Are the Goa'uld still around?
The Tok'ra?
The Asgard?
The replicators?

And all the other races that they have met. What new weapons would they come up with in 50 years. That last part was fun. The technology you guys are going to face is going to be far superior to that of earth... or is it. A lot has happened in the last 50 years. SR is about 20 times more advanced in some ways then modern day earth. And while there is no viable energy based weapons as of yet, they are pretty close.

So I have some decisions to make. How hard is it to pilot a Deathglider? Can someone who isn't a 'world class' scientist hope to even begin to understand alien technology.

Anyways I thought I would share my thought process with you guys.

-Shadow

Technically, if you're going to continue with the way the show is progressing... well, you probably don't want to do that because... things would be quite a bit different, I'd say. It's a bit difficult to talk about without spoiling.

I think it would be best if you chose what parts you want to borrow from the show and just assume that that world was some parallel dimension (or another world that we might encounter through the Stargate).

That aside, the SG-1 team seems to have minimal trouble figuring out alien technology and languages, though it often takes a bit of a learning curve to get there and they're all amongst the best in their fields. I'd say a flat +8 modifier for "alien technology" would be a good place to start for situational modifiers, and once unlocked (via gaining at least one success on a test in the past), it might drop to double the standard defaulting penalty (as appropriate) until a new skill is learned specifically for the tech in question.

EDIT: For example, let's say we have a rigger who's an ace pilot (Vector-Thrust Aircraft 6) who's trying to learn how to fly a Deathglider. We'll only use the base TN and ignore all other situational modifiers; that means he'd have to make a successful VTA 12 (4 + the above 8 penalty for alien tech) test just to turn it on and get it in the air the first time. But once he did, he would be able to fly it with only a +4 penalty (double for defaulting from a similar Active Skill) for a TN of 8 until he learned a Deathglider skill. Make sense?

Using technology to interface with alien tech would be flat out impossible. A successful Engineering-related Test with the same penalties would be required to figure out how to build an interface, and a Build/Repair Test would then be required to try and make something that might work. The +4 TN penalty would still exist even then, until a specific Knowledge and B/R skill were developed so that they could create a "real" interface.

Am I gonna be out of my league here? I saw the movie, but they don't show that TV show in this part of Europe that I'm aware of.... I may be a bit under-knowledged compared to the rest...

However, I loved the movie immensely, and saw like 3 of the shows when I visited the States, great shows each, but I don't have this extensive knowledge it seems the others have... Is that bad?

Sphynx

I did say I wanted Shadowrunners, not scientist. There of course will be a team of scientist in Gate Technologies who will analyze anything you bring back. My thoughts were more for when you are in the field and want to use a Zat'nickitel or something.


For those of you who don't know a Zat is a pistol like device that fires a beam of charged particles that stun people.

Like I said, that would probably just be a good "starting point" for figuring something out. If we encounter something out of the blue, we're not going to stand much of a chance on figuring it out on our first go. But playing around with it a bit (and having our scientists study and creating an interface of some type using something like the suggested rules above) would give us some familiarity, and eventually a working interface for decker and rigger types or whatever.

To use the Zat as an example, our gun bunny with Pistols 6 would need to make a base TN 12 test to figure out just how to trigger the damn thing, then would suffer a flat +4 defaulting penalty (twice normal) for using it (due to the odd aiming style and unfamiliarity) until he developed a specific Zat skill. Once he had the skill, he would use it without penalty.

I don't know about 12 for the Zat (I agree game mechanic wise but logically, it doesn't make much sense). I'd say maybe more like an 8.

Gunbunny: "hmmmm, there seem to be two buttons on this thingy. Lets what this one does....**snik, zip** Huh. whaddaya know, it opens. Okay now for the last button....zzzzaaapp"

I dislike house rules but it looks like I am going to need a few. I don't think I should make you buy a new skill just to use a Zat. It is a pistol like weapon after all. I think you will use your pistol skill for it. If someone wants to start using them exclusively then I would say a purchase of 2 karma would be a sufficient investment so as not to get a penalty. Depending on the nature of the tech I might give a much higher penalty. For instance, staff weapons; while we have staves here on earth, we do not use them in that way. The weapons are unwieldy and take a lot of training to learn to use properly. So a +6tn may be in order with a 4 point karma investment to learn it well enough to incorporate it into your riffle skill. If you wanted to use it as a melee weapon you would just have to know staves.

Anyways this is all still needing to be hashed out by me and I am hoping to have that done by the time we start.

An Uzi SMG is a lot closer to a pistol than a Zat is to a pistol, yet you still suffer a +2 target number modifier with the former unless you have the proper skill.

Just something to consider while you hash it out.

Shut up Lime. You're only making it harder on us.

Bah!

That's true, but theres more to the diffrence then just the shape. For example, I don't think Zats are very heavy, nor do they have recoil affects. Those two allone are going to throw off your aim. I am not trying to make it impossible, just so that the character isn't as proficient with the weapon as a pistol five seconds after he picks it up.

Anyways this is all still pending. Oh and Gry, I am saying +4 Clock is saying plus +2

I am? I thought I was saying +8 to figure out how to use it at all (turn it on, charge it, where the trigger is, which way is the right way to point, etc.), then +4 to use it on a regular basis until familiarity is gained via a new skill.

Oh, I misunderstood.

Then we are saying the same thing. +4 to use it untill you spend karma to 'master' it.

A-yup. Our only real difference is in the 'mastering' part. But it's your game. I'm just offering up some other ideas, much to the dismay of the drab-colored one.

I would liek to keep the rules as intergrated as possible. For pistol-like weapons you will use the pistol skill. Riffle like weapons, riffle skill.

Now you could specialize in Zat if you wanted.

Oh, Gou'old tech. How do I love thee? Let me count the Karma...

Considering that the Zat or whatever it is seems to do base 12(D) Stun damage on the show, I'd wager it's worth alot.

Not that our GM would ever let us have any if they were that powerful here...

Well Zats are pretty powerful, and I am sure if you actually encounter the Goa'uld they will have Zats. Which means that you can probably use them. I have no problem giving the PC's powerful weapons. It's fun for you and fun for me. Bear in mind though, the opposition will have them as well.

Here is an idea which might streamline the process of learning to use an alien weapon.

First step, AFTER figuring out that it is a weapon, if the character doesn't already know that from having it fired at him or something: Intelligence (6 or 8 ) Test, depending on the strangeness of the weapon. The purpose of this test is to realize that it is a weapon and how to fire it. On a result of all 1s, the character may accidentally discharge the weapon and injure someone nearby, themself included. On a successful roll, the character realizes the purpose of the device they are holding. A critical number of successes to realize additional information, such as how it operates (fire, aim, reload), with only partial information gained for fewer than the minimum successes, as in a perception test or a detection spell. On a roll of all 6s, the character realizes that the device is a weapon and, in a stroke of genius, is able to somehow completely figure out how it operates.

Second step, in order to successfully use the weapon, the character must have the appropriate skill or a similar linked skill to default to. Defaulting to a linked attribute is possible. Standard penalties apply for defaulting, along with a possible +2 penalty for using alien technology for the first time. I'm thinking that the +2 modifier probably isn't necessary because, well, you could just make it a separate skill.

Example: Skill (Specialization)
Goa'uld Energy Rifles 4 (Zat 6)
Goa'uld Fixed Wing Craft 3 (Death Glider 5)

I'd have thought that using those exotic alien weapons would be covered under the rules of shadowrun already. Default to another firearm weapon skill, at a TN of 2, half combat pool and all that, to show that the character has a grasp of basic marksmanship, but is unfamiliar with the weapon. Much like the gun cane and the eye weapons that you get in CC and M&M, respectively. Then, as you get better acquainted with the weapon, you can spend karma to build up a new skill, like "Alien Energy Weapons", or something like that. Maybe I'd ask the characters to sit down for a couple of minutes as they investigate the weapons for switches and firing mechanisms. (Maybe an Intelligence (8) test to see if they can make sense of this bizarre weapon).

I'd like to submit a character too. I haven't tried playing a PBP before but assuming I get in I'll do my best. I've put together a combat medic character I'll email tomorrow.

@ Moonstone, Excellent! I look forward to your submission.

As a reminder as I said earlier character submission are do this Friday. I am a little concerned because despite the huge amount of posts I have only received for characters.

I look forward to getting more.

I'm working on the Merc, but I'm not too happy with him... sucks not having characters already usable... Might make a different one instead, got a strange fellow in mind, that could be some fun... not as much a street sam as a cyber enhanced street fighter turned shadowruner for kicks...