Hiyas!

So, I am thinking of starting a new SR4A game here.

EDIT: Recruiting is now closed. Players will be: lorechaser, Scarecrow, ArCha, Hudson, and faultline. With Aria being on reserve.

I labeled it "Shadowrun Sandbox", because I do not (yet) have some kind of overarching plot, but would like to have things run a little more loose at first. I thought it would be cool to allow you, the players, to be a bit more proactive. Of course, you will also get runs offered through the normal channels, with a Mr. Johnson and all the bells and whistles, but most of the time you will be looking at finding ways to pay your rent and upgrades in a more active fashion, planning a heist, or datasteal, or kidnapping, whatever comes to mind. You will be able to find rumors about certain happenings around town, which might give you additional ideas, but you can also come up with something completely on your own (I would actually welcome this sort of proactivity).

The game will be set in Seattle, Denver or Hong Kong (please mention it in your reply here, if you have any preferences about this).

I will try to have a complementing information thread around, where many useful infos will be added and recorded for future use.

Unless you vastly prefer to keep the character sheets secret, I will also add the character sheets (posting them all myself, so I can keep them up to date) with status area (condition monitors, Edge spent, etc) and whatever else seems useful to the info thread.

The game will have a bit of a lower power level than normal (see notes on character generation below for details).

I am looking for 4-5 PCs total. I am looking for reliable and consistent posters (therefore I will give priority to those dumpshockers, where I know this is the case; but I am absolutely not averse to letting newbies in as well).

Posting speed should be about 2-3 posts a week (with a minimum of 1 post a week; I'm generally lenient, but eventually will be looking for a replacement to keep things flowing). If you cannot post for some time (on vacation or sick or something), it would be great to leave a note about it.

A short conceptual idea (or multiple ideas, if you are not dead fixed on a certain concept), just a few lines about what you would like to play, would be great for the initial reply.

There is exactly one PC slot for a Full Magician or Mystic Adept, and one additional PC slot for an Adept. These guys are supposed to be somewhat rare. Players will have to figure out who will be playing an awakened character among themselves (and if they cannot come to a conclusion, we can use a random method to determine this).

The characters will know each other from the beginning (and might even have some common backgrounds, if you like to include such mutual ties), which seems useful because the game won't start with a Mr. J. getting everyone around the same table. You could also think about having a team lifestyle/base of operations, or something like that (if it's fitting and you can come to a consensus there, it's no necessity).

Character Generation:

All official SR4A books / e-publications can be used, though I reserve the right to veto certain items or combinations (probably won't happen, unless you are looking at truly outrageous stuff).

Characters will be built using the Karma Generation system from Runner's Companion (SR4A version, i.e. raising Attributes costs new Rating x5, Metatypes cost the BP cost in Karma, etc) with the standard 750 Karma.

In addition to the official rules, the following changes apply:

- The limit for how much Karma can be spent on Attributes (375 plus twice the Metatype BP cost) only applies to Physical and Mental Attributes; Special Attributes (i.e. Edge or Magic) can also be raised with the remaining Karma
- You get additional Knowledge Points equal to Intuition+Logic times 3 to spend on Knowledge Skills (just like with the BP system, one Rank costs one Knowledge Point)
- You also get additional Contact Points equal to Charisma times 3 to spend on Contacts (one point of Connection Rating or Loyalty costs one Contact Point)
- You can break up a Skill Group during character generation, when raising one of the skills further, or adding a specialization. You can never re-merge the Skill Group, however.

And the following limitations apply during character generation:

- Metatypes are limited to the standard Metatypes from the SR4A book and the Metavariants of these from Runner's Companion (no AIs, Changelings, Drakes, Infected, Shapeshifters, etc)
- No Technomancers
- No Possession traditions
- Only two Attributes (Physical or Mental) may be raised as much as four times each (i.e. max 5 for a human), all other Attributes (including all Special Attributes) can only be raised three times each
- Only one Skill can be raised to 5 OR two Skills can be raised to 4. All other Skills (including all Skill Groups) are limited to 3 during character generation.
- Knowledge Skills have the standard limit, i.e. one at 6 or two at 5, and the rest at 4 max.
- All equipment is limited to Availability 8 during character generation (or AV 12 with the Restricted Gear quality); the only exception to this are Fake SINs and Licenses, which have the normal limit of Availability 12
- Contacts are limited to Ratings of 3, both for Connection and Loyalty, but with a good enough explanation higher Ratings might be accepted (though anything above 4 is unlikely at best)

House Rules:

In addition to normal Karma rewards, you also gain 50% extra Karma, which is limited to learning/improving Knowledge Skills and gaining new Contacts or (with GM's discretion) improving the Loyalty of old ones (within reason; the cost for improving Contacts is the same as for acquring them during character generation, when using Karma) during downtime (you can still gain new Contacts during play, of course).

Knowledge Skills will sometimes be used as a Teamwork Test, granting bonus dice for the actual test. This, generally, does not apply to Combat and Magic Skills, though. But it could be used in a shadowing or a car chase, when you know the area very well, or if you have specific knowledge about maglocks, it might help when trying to disable them. Knowing much about fine cuisine could help with the higher class etiquette.

Pretty much anything, cyberware, bioware, foci, etc, can be improved in Rating during the game, by paying the difference in cost (AV for the "upgrade" is the AV of the higher Rating). You do not have to replace the items completely.

Indirect Combat Spells have their Drain Value reduced by 1. Indirect Elemental Combat Spells have their Drain Value reduced by an additional 1 (total 2).

Overcasting is a lot harsher than normal. The portion of the Force that goes beyond the Magic Rating is not halved (i.e. when you have Magic 3 and cast a Force 6 spell, the F/2 part of the Drain would be 4 (1 for the 3 points up to your Magic Rating and 3 more for the 3 points beyond). You can use the following formula to calculate Drain when overcasting: Force - Magic/2 (round up).

Physical Drain is resisted twice (with the exact same Dice Pool; i.e. if you spend Edge before the roll, you can use the extra dice for both rolls), once dealing physical damage and once dealing stun damage.

Summoning is generally limited to Force Ratings no higher than the summoner's Magic Rating.

Watchers can use the Magic Rating of their summoner, when using the Search Power.

Emotitoys are toys and useless for runners. Emotion Sensor Software is useful, however, but instead of giving its Rating as a dice pool modifier it is used as a Teamwork Test using its Rating (and granting bonus dice equal to the number of hits, limited to the Skill Rating of the skill being used).

The Adrenal Pump increases Attributes beyond the augmented maximum (up to twice the natural maximum). The Drain can be resisted with Body+Willpower.

Contacts can only acquire gear with an Availability as high as 4 times their Connection Rating. This limit applies, if you use your own Negotiation Skill or let the Contact use his or hers.

Contacts usually have an area of specialty (especially Fixers; weapons dealer, electronics fence, etc; the area of specialty should be reasonably specific). When using this specialty, they count their Connection Rating as one point higher than normal.

Additional Notes:

Edge will refresh at a fixed rate by 1 point each day (and sometimes for special situations, spectacular critical successes or critical glitches could be a possibility).

Extended Tests will generally use the cumulative -1 dice pool modifier. Routine tests might not get that penalty, however. An example for a routine test is finding a legal item (no R or F in the AV code). The vast majority of tests will not be routine, though, as in many cases there is no need to even roll for a routine task.

For (Mystic) Adepts, the optional rule for gaining a Power Point instead of a Metamagic Technique during Initiation is being used. Way of the Adept can also be used.

The optional rule for accepting a Geas on Adept Powers in order to lower their cost is also acceptable, as long as the Geas is actually limiting/restrictive in some fashion (GM's discretion).

Mystic Adepts use their portion of Magic Rating for mana-based abilities (Mage part) when calculating dice pools and when it is used as a variable in the spell effect (i.e. some spell ranges), but to figure out whether Drain is physical, and to determine maximum Force, the full Magic Rating is used. Likewise, while only the portion of Magic Rating for physical abilities (Adept part) grants Power Points, when Magic is used in a test (i.e. Attribute Boost), and when determining the maximum Rank of Adept Powers, the full Magic Rating is used.

Initiative enhancing items are not compatible with each other, when they grant extra IPs (unless they are specifically allowed, like the two Matrix IP boosts). However, Reaction boosts are compatible (i.e. you can combine Reaction Enhancers with any other form of initiative enhancement).


So, if I havn't scared you off by now, let me know if you are interested!

Bye
Thanee

I'm certainly interested. I was a Dumpshocker for a while, dropped out of gaming for a while, and now I'm trying to get back in.

I've got several concepts I'm mulling over:

1. A smuggler type focused on social infiltration - getting in to places he shouldn't to give things to people who need them. He calls himself Mailman. Con, etiquette, a wide range of clothing and contacts, etc. Could be the face of the group if necessary, or the intel guy, or the inside man.

2. A B&E mystic adept. 3D mastery, physical abilities, etc. A thrill seeker who uses runs as a reason to test himself and, eventually, get himself killed. Probably an elf.

3. Troll combat decker. I love combat deckers. He wants to be taken seriously, and is forever tinkering with mechanical gizmos and inventing things that either don't work or are useless. Nice guy, when he isn't trying to extract data from a node just on the other side of you.

4. Dwarf boxer. He still fights, but people are losing interest - he's been fighting for a while now - he was an early dwarf, and got by on novelty for a while. Eventually a dwarf boxer wasn't anything out of the ordinary, and his career slowly started tanking. So he's picking up jobs as a bodyguard, bouncing at clubs or, grudgingly, as a hired thug/muscle. I'd like him to be a physad if there's a slot, but he could also be mundane.

5. Whiskey Jack, adventurer for hire! With a whip in one hand and a Ruger Super Warhawk in the other, he'll go anywhere and do anything! Expert survivalist, minor star of his own show on the SR equivalent of the Discovery Channel. Lots of knowledge skills, reasonably charming, fairly tough. Has a tendency to narrate his actions, occasionally when not recording (although his contract requires him to record at least 12 hours a day).

Alternatively, if it comes out that I'm in, and everyone else wants to play something combat related, or the group needs combat skills, I'm more than willing to put together an Ork Razorboy who's good at making things fall apart and then stop moving (organic or mechanical, either way is fine).

Definitely interested. On my phone at the moment so will edit post when I get home.

EDIT: I'm at home, and now have the capacity to type out a couple of concepts that I'd like to throw out there for consideration.

1. Eddie Valparaiso, wheel-man extraordinaire. Former stock car racer who never quite made it due to the circuits allowing riggers to jump-in their vehicles. There isn't a car or truck on the road he can't drive, and nobody is better behind the wheel than he is (or so he would have you believe). He's cocky, a little arrogant, and definitely sure of himself. He's also smart enough to know that cars aren't very good if they don't run, so he's not a half-bad mechanic, and can fix most repairs on most vehicles.

Eddie's motive for being in the shadows is that he isn't making enough money legitimately fixing cars, so he's decided to hire himself out as the get-a-way driver for whoever needs him. Bank jobs, jewelry stores, taxi service, fly the Apache helicopter and maybe provide air support...it's all the same to him, so long as the creds are rolling in. I'm thinking Ork with this one.

2. Marc Des Jardins (that's pronounced "day-ZHAR-dan", thank you very much), a French awakened investigator, although I'm not sure of what tradition as this moment - I'll have to go back and read through the books to make sure I pick the right one. He's part street medic, part astral investigator, and 100% convinced that there is a cure for vampirism. He firmly believes that vampires - as well as all those who are infected - can be cured, and he is currently attempting to find a suitable cure that doesn't end up killing the person the cure is being administered to. He's actually quite the skilled medic, and his magical abilities only help to further his abilities in performing surgery. Some have said he's nothing more than a throw-back to the deranged back-alley abortionists from the 20th century.

Marc's motive for being in the shadows is that this is where the majority of the infected are, and in order to cure them you have to study them first. In other words, you have to go where the subjects are, and this is where the subjects are. Definitely human, without exception, but might be one of the meta-variants.

3. GSR, a British dwarf weapons expert. Apprenticed to a few different gunsmiths in his teens, but his desire was always to run his own armory. He's a whiz with building, repairing, and firing all kinds of weapons, but he has the common sense of a spoon. I'm thinking Sheldon Cooper meets Sons of Guns with this one. Guy is brilliant and uses science-y talk and techniques with his weapons, but he has problems understanding the most basic social conventions such as keeping others' secrets and crossing personal boundaries and such.

His motive for being in the shadows is simple: Runners use guns. Runners need guns. Runners need to have guns fixed. Pretty self-explanatory, isn't it?

Those are the top three concepts I've got floating in my mind at the moment. If I get in to this game and there is a preference the group has for one of these, I'll gladly build him and play him. I like all 3 concepts, so I won't be disappointed no matter what (although I've not play a Mage before).

I'm interested as well. I'm new to playing on dumpshock but I have played elsewhere. I have two concepts:
1. Haphephobic Rigger. His fear of being touched has turned him into quite a recluse. He lives in a trailer or bus that he moves around often so that no one can get close. What little contact with others that was necessary has been replaced with an army of drones. This constant use has made him skilled but still leaves him vulnerable.
2. Social Infiltrator Adept. Abandoned as a boy he was able to use his adept powers to take advantage of others charity or manipulate them into believing he was someone else. Years of deceit coupled with rush of being someone else have only pushed him further into the shadows. He should bring social and a bit of breaking and entering skills to the table. Probably an elf.

Also interested.

My application would be for Maria González, a cuban mage of the Santeria (Vodoo) tradition. As a former navy officer who had to flee the island after tangling with a member of a far more powerful family she can provide some degree of social skills in adddition to her magic.

Or, if more suitable, Moroz, a straight razor gal who came from Russia with a surly attitude and the habit of silvering her weapons.

I'm interested but would probably be over stretching myself as I'm GMing threads already and playing another. I'd quite like to make a character though and perhaps get on to a reserve list?

My preference would be some sort of adept (love adepts!!!) and based in Seattle to draw tenuous links with the other games I'm in.

Sounds good so far.

Added a couple notes above.

@Hudson: Sorry, but I apparantly forgot one thing above: No Possession traditions for PCs! I will add it immediately. So, you would have to look into another tradition there, I'm afraid.

@Aria: Sure, go ahead, and if there will be an opening at a later time, I can send you a PM.

Bye
Thanee

It's absolutely okay - I already suspected as much.

But I couldn't just replace Santeria with any other tradition since that would kill the more interesting aspects of the character and her background. Thus I will simply have to withdraw that app.

Ok, that's cool. And since you have another concept, too, no real harm done.

Bye
Thanee

I'm interested

well since Lorechaser pointed out the no Chageling note to me that I didnt see I now only have 1 idea kicking around.


Michael Angus Carmichael - Jack of all trades former intellegence operative (the name should give you an idea of what sources im drawing inspiration from)


whats wrong with Changelings anyway?

Faultline - I'm a bit behind on my books, but SURGEd == Changeling, right? Thanee's listed that he's only allowing standard metahuman races.

Ah I didnt see that thanks

No worries! I know how annoying it is to get invested in a character concept, then find out it's totally not gonna work.

Meh, I dont invested in character concepts as much as I do the actual character once I start building him/her/it.

And Metavariants.


Anyways, since we have exactly five interested now (not counting Aria, who wants to stay in reserve for now), let's close the recruitment and move on.

This means you are all in, and can start to narrow down your concepts (if necessary) to which character you actually want to play now!


And list which city you would prefer to play in (if you have a preference there).

Bye
Thanee

I'm in? AWESOME!

To the rest: I'm already going to narrow down my concepts and dump the Mage. I like the concept, and I may end up creating this character for a game at some point in the future. But I like the other 2 concepts more than that one, so I'll do one of those two. Personally, I'm leaning towards the dwarf weapons expert, and that's the one I'll probably go with. Unless the rest of the group would prefer I play the Mage or the wheel man?

It looks like Faultline will be playing an ex-operative, and Hudson a Razorgirl. if you want to play GSR, I say go for it. Although Marc DJ amuses me.

If you go GSR, I'd like to play my boxer. Then ArCha could go either rigger or Face. If we did that, I'll make my boxer Awakened. I think basically a PhysAd, but I'd like to see if I could get a little bit of counter spelling in there to fit the bodyguard concept. If anyone watched Lights Out when it was on, I'm using that as inspiration (although I'm having trouble resisting adding some Snatch in there, and naming my boxer Mikey the Pikey).

Also, if you play GSR, I can imagine us as old buddies who constantly argue about things, starting with "You need to look a man in the eye when you fight him" and running through any number of places. I envision old buddies who almost never agree, but don't really mind.

Naturally, Moroz's main contribution will be weapons skills, especially automatics and a touch of heavy weapons. (Her silvered knife is a distant second choice for going into combat.) She can also provide the standard outdoor skills, learned in those past days of fighting the Yakutian traitors.


So, right now we have:

lorechaser - Dwarf Boxer [Adept or Magician slot]
Scarecrow - Dwarf Weapons Expert
ArCha - Rigger or Face Adept [Adept slot]
Hudson - ex-military Razorgal
faultline - former intelligence operative/jack-of-all-trades

Looks right to me. We're missing a decker, a standard Mage, and either a rigger or a face. I'm assuming Faultline can fill in as decker and either face or wheelman as required. Mage will be a hole, but I'll put one on my contacts.

Also, I'm location neutral.

Yeah, we seem to be rather street samurai heavy. Which will cause us to be seriously boned in the long run. I could change my concept to have him be a hacker if you would like? That might fit better with the whole Sheldon cooper personality.

You make a good point.

So! I can easily swap away from my boxer. I'd be happy to go with any others too. The elf B&E specialist could also have a bit of focus on social skills. That would up our talking and subtlety, and lower our fighty. I'm thinking of using a metahuman variant for him - the African elf (I forget the name). That's intriguing to me too.

Then we'd have a Razorgirl, a weapons guy, an operative (who I'd imagine to be partially fighty, partially intel and partially talky or sneaky), a rigger or hacker, and another mostly sneaky/talky.

I'm imagining the layout in old Mass Effect style. 3 combat/3 combat/1 combat, 1 intel, 1 sneak or talky/3 intel/1 talk, 2 sneak.

Gives us a total of 7 combat, 4 intel, 2 sneak, 2 talk?

Still 0 mage, but, you know.

I'll go with the rigger. That leaves the adept open for anyone else plus I don't think anyone had any interest in playing one. I've built the social infiltrator adept before and it always end up being a little too specialized. I could load up on a few hacking programs as well. With availability 8 being standard, it might be cheaper than usual. Any location of the three is fine by me.

I am now leaning towards the hacker, so that is what I'll build. When I'm done, do you want us to pm the character to you thanee?

I think, right now we are standing at:


lorechaser - Elf B&E Specialist [Magician slot] ?
Scarecrow - Hacker
ArCha - Rigger
Hudson - ex-military Razorgal
faultline - former Intelligence Operative/Jack-of-all-Trades

I went with Mystic Adept, to give a minor ability to deal with spirits, and cast a couple minor spells.

And I actually realized that I was basically building an ork in an elf's skin, so I just made my character an ork.

I'm about 80% done with the character. I need to pick gear, and I think I'm done.

He (or she, not sure yet) ended up an Athlete's Way Mystic Adept, good physical stats, reasonable mental, 4 magic (-1 Essence +1 Initiation), 2 edge.

Still a thrill seeker, mild focus addict, in debt. Master climber, excellent sneaker, very hard to keep locked up. Took 3D Mastery, Flexibility (escape bonds), Multi-tasking, Nimble Fingers, Wall Running, Prodigious Physicality, Cloak, Improved AGI. Several Geas as well, because I love geasing individual powers. I picked up Firearms group 1, so I've got 10 dice in one gun, and 8 in the rest (lots of AGI )

Grade 1 initiate, rating 1 synaptic booster (I figured at a lower power game, getting Syn 2 was both too much of an investment and out of the appropriate power curve), climbing claws, flex hands.

Reasonably limited gear - he/she acquires and loses nuyen pretty quickly, I think. Gives a good motivation to be running, and gives me some goals (although I think it's a point of pride to be mostly natural, an non-gear dependant).

With the cyberware limits in place my gillette will be hard-pressed to come even close.


[EDIT]: BTW, can we break skill groups at creation ? (Would be nice for the Firearms group in my case.)

And not possible without Restricted Gear, due to Availability.

But if you are a Mystic Adept, you might be better off just getting a Sustaining Focus (Rating 2, Health; note that you can increase the Rating later) for Increased Reflexes.

Bye
Thanee

It's not that hard, really.

Agility 4, Muscle Toner 1, Skill 3, Specialization, Smartlink - that's 12 dice right there without anything fancy.



Yes, you can. It is actually listed somewhere in the first post.

Bye
Thanee

That is an optional rule, BTW, but I am probably fine with it.

Bye
Thanee

lorechaser - Orc Mystic Adept B&E Specialist [Magician slot]
Scarecrow - Hacker
ArCha - Rigger
Hudson - ex-military Razorgal
faultline - former Intelligence Operative/Jack-of-all-Trades

Looks like a reasonably well-rounded team to me.

Bye
Thanee

Okay, didn't count specialization and smartlink because I always see them as situational. But I'll still have to re-examine my approach towards skioll levels and extent of 'ware, I fear.




And there it is. Oops ...


Thanks! Will read more carefully before asking anything else.

Yeah, I think that's the best to go over the sheets and see if everything looks fine.

Afterwards, I will post all the character sheets in a common format to the campaign-info thread (to be opened at a later time) for reference, and to keep them up to date there and add notes (like Edge expenditure, condition monitors, and so on).

Bye
Thanee

The only vote for a city I have seen so far came from Aria (Seattle).

So, shall we go with the classic and base the campaign in Seattle?

Bye
Thanee

Regarding the location preference:

After 22 years of Seattle-based SR I'd really forward to playing somewhere else. Moroz's overland skills might be more useful in Denver but Hong Kong has mainland China and .. no Ghostwalker.

Sure, I am comfortable with either location, that is why I am asking you!

As for Denver... Ghostwalker surely is there, but won't really be anything you have to deal with.

So, Denver? Or Hong Kong?

If noone else has any specific preference here, you can choose!

Bye
Thanee

Character coming later.

Preference: Seattle, but I'm thinking something really out thee, like Chicago?

Nah, Chicago is too limited.

Either Seattle, Denver, or Hong Kong.

So far, we have one vote for Seattle, one vote for Denver or Hong Kong, and one abstention.

lorechaser - no location preference
Scarecrow - prefers Seattle, but all three are ok
ArCha - ?
Hudson - prefers non-Seattle, leaning towards Hong Kong
faultline - ?

Bye
Thanee

No Chicago? Rats!

Yeah, Seattle is good, but I'll play anywhere.

I'd be happy with any of the three you named but I am a little curious to read up about Hong Kong. Denver's probably my least favourite of the three.

Just a quick word of apology to Thanee: I hadn't seen your post while writing up my own, otherwise I would have removed it. Sorry!

Indeed - I had to take Restricted Gear twice, for Synaptics and a power focus.

That's not a bad idea, actually - I already have focus addiction, so that would fit better, cost less, and be more thematic.

Also, to be clear - magic can only be raised 3, or can it be raised 4? And do you mind if I take 2 grades of Initiation?

hmmm Seattle, Hong Kong, or Denver huh... whereas im more familiar with Seattle as the backdrop for most games, If too many people want to switch it up I would go for Denver.

But....if your taking suggestions outside of your list, I've got a few

My character is nearly complete - just need to add background information. Gave him a quality that I think the GM is going to enjoy having in the game. Had a bit of a problem actually spending all 750 Karma, but I made it work.

I'll be finishing the character up tomorrow evening, at which point I'll send him to Thanee.

I sent mine in. I'm a bit nervous, as it's been a while since I've made a character, and I've never used the Karma system, so I'm hoping I did everything correct.

Anyone interested in doing some shared background stuff?

I'd love to, but my character has the social skills of a bent spork.

I like sporks!

I've got a 1/1 contact that is somewhat undefined - I just randomly threw a label on him. I could make him the same contact as one of yours, so that we have at least a tenuous connection....

Mine also has the social skills of a spork! Although he's spork that doesn't like to be touched! He'll help you out with another spoon and fork though.

Thanee did say that we'd know each other from the beginning and that there would be no Johnson to bring us together. We could also look at a team lifestyle. The storage space might work for mine but I'm not sure he'd actually spend much time there.

Faultline - how talky is your guy? I could swap out my focus on Con for a group skill, with a 3 cha, and get 4 dice in each. That's not a ton, but if we're at -4 otherwise, it might be worth it.

That is correct, Magic can only be raised 3 times (to a maximum of 4, initially).

Initiation is ok, esp. as a Mystic Adept you probably need it for the Adept Powers, but keep it within those limits (i.e. no more than those 2 grades).

Bye
Thanee

Absolutely no problem!

Bye
Thanee