- What is the typical age range for tribe members? I am gathering from context that this will be quite young. There will be a broader range than most gangs as there are families here. Anywhere from 0-60 (most people don't live longer in the barrens!)

- I was considering using the Living at Home lifestyle quality, but not sure that would be appropriate for tribe members. Would an Ork family be living in tribal space? Fine and yes!

- I am remembering bits of information about urban tribes, but can not seem to find a reference searching through the books on hand. Got any reference pointers? Not specifically. Essentially bigger than gangs, people banded together for mutual protection, more families involved, may or may not be criminal enterprises. Will try and sum up these two tribes (my vision of them, to be modified by PC input!) in a new post.
- how much of the negative lifestyle qualities for the living space carry over to the workspace? The workspace is basically an empty shop, with tools purchased separate from the lifestyle, so I am *hoping* that household gremlins is not going to cut the power to the shop too often. Gremlins fits nicely with the ongoing improvements story. Things that just have not been fixed yet, due to other priorities. If it's fun it'll carry over, what can I say, I have an evil streak sometimes

- Analytical Mind RC96 says [also] provides +2 dice pool modifier to any Data Search and Software Tests. Would threading count as a Software Test (Software + Resonance)? Even if not, I assume that can be used as bonus for finding / figuring out how to use scavenged equipment for alternate purposes. It can be used for threading, almost a must have for a TM and yes to the last part...

[I've created a character Cam for one of Thanee's games. He's a mechanical. I've taken dependants 5BP and day job (enforcer) 5BP as a way of simulating his role. Contacts I have Spindle [Rat Shaman & Mechanicals Leader][L:3 C:3],
The Mechanicals [Urban Tribe][L:3 C:2 G:4 ], Fre∑dom [Hacker Tribe][L:1 C:3 G:5 ], purely as an example! I can explain the group breakdowns if you want me to... His lifestyle is: Crash Pad [Comforts:Low Entertainment:Low Necessities:Low Neighbourhood:Low Security:Low] Workplace, Homegrown Farming, Concerned Neighbours, Living by Comittee, 3200¥ / month. Yes to the workplace question...there's lots of it going round for the tribe!]

Group breakdown appreciated. My initial guess would be [RC124]
Mechanicals: +1 +1 +1 +1
Fre∑dom: +1 +1 +1 +2
But that makes the tribes smaller than I expected.

Not quite, I was going with +2 size (up to 100 people), +1 district influence, +1 limited magic for the Mechanicals and +2 size, +1 district influence, +2 broad matrix for the Freedom tribe. Note, Freedom have a couple of adepts that use the matrix but they are not sufficiently different to warrant a magic point, at least that was my thinking.

How does that work in game with both the Mechanicals tribe and tribe leader as contacts? Because I wanted a notably more powerful contact I took him as an individual, plus a couple of houserules in that game made it make sense. Happy for you lot just to take the group or just the leader for saving some points...

Vehicles [and drones] was actually all I was thinking about for used prices anyway

Given the Sprogget interests and skill set, *wonky* is just fine. As long as effort on repairs and upgrades after purchase can negate that. Given the 'scrounging' theme, starting from a totally non-working piece of equipment is valid. Scrounge parts, and creatively re-purpose, repair and upgrade from there. There is likely to always be something sitting in the shop that is not currently usable.

I will ask though about interaction with purchased equipment (with modifications] and Paragon disadvantages. Specifically Daedalus UW150, and the -2 modifier for other users of the equipment. I will at least hope that a straight repair does not incur that cost, so that Sprogget can do some repair work on the side. Customizations [for others] not such a good idea. The 'useful' things he builds to sell at the crime mall could be somewhat 'interesting'. Sounds reasonable. Some repairs migh have a little of the odd about them but be useable without the penalty.

Cash is going to be very tight for the character build, to keep with the scenario. Looks like I will buy at least one used vehicle, that will not be running very well at creation. It will be in the shop getting repairs and upgrades to start with. My memory says that hardware upgrades cost half the list price when doing the upgrade yourself, but I can not find the reference. Is that correct, and would that apply to vehicles as well?. If so, can I purchasing upgrade parts during character build at half price that are not installed yet? For this scenario, I think I also need to budget for consumables used up during the repair process. How much compared to the discounted purchase price? Without dredging the books (Arsenal presumably), I'm not sure. I tend to gloss over such things anyway so I'm happy for you to aquire stuff like parts during the game with a minimal amount of fuss - it's what the group does after all. If you haven't got it someone in the group will have, they can let you have it, you can let them have something they need, now or later...

Now for the big piece:

Several pieces of this should be in spoiler blocks to make for easier reading. My searches have not found out how to create those yet though

Here is a 'design' for a lifestyle that I intend to use with the Sprogget PC. Suggestions appreciated, to help fit to the known location and abilities for the Mechanicals tribe. Potentially this could be the main 'base' for the tribe. Some pieces left vague here, which should make it fairly easy to tweak a bit, how large the tribe is, how spread out they, how big this particular building is, etc.

Start with a industrial facility / warehouse, that has ground floor access to some drive in bays to use for workshop space. My current design is based on a 2 or three story layout, with the top floors converted from office space to apartments and suites. Parts of the lower floor may have been converted as well, but significant workshop space still exists. Could be extended to use below ground space as well, which would make some of the Privacy lifestyle qualifiers a better fit. Sounds good so far...they are probably in a series of industrial buildings. Note the Freedom tribe have the mall to the north of you. The 2072 map is linked in post 2 of the OoC thread...

I am thinking that when the Tribe first found the site, everything was at the squatter lifestyle level. Over time, and as more of the tribe moved in, significant improvements have been made. Given the general tribal skill set, they are great scroungers, with good [re]building skills to creatively re-purpose things they can get their hands on. Their main 'theme' is tech, but there should be enough overlap to also do the architectural / engineering side of the remodeling. They would have some engineering skill to be able to make 'useful things' to sell at the mall. Ok!

The tribe members are still quite individual, so the renovations were not really done to an overall plan. The improvements were rather organic, as one piece of office space at a time was converted to match the desires of the individuals doing the work. With units expanded, subdivided, merged over time. That means that the individual units available today come with a wide range of properties. Just about the only commonality is neighborhood, unless it would be valid to consider the warehouse space big enough to have variation across the building. Still sounding good to me

Capable residents are expected to contribute to building / infrastructure maintenance and improvements. As well as assistance with security patrols. Would that be enough to take the Day Job character quality? Yes

The concept as it stands seems to be compatible with lifestyle qualities of:

** Positive **
Animal Lover 1 or 2
Aspected Domain [a bit iffy on this one, give the general location, maybe something carried over from when the warehouse was active?] Not so keen on this one... Concerned Neighbors Easy-Going Landlord Escape Tunnel Feng Shui Free Access Friendly Neighbors Hasty Exit Homegrown Farming Yep, greenhouses on the roof Inconspicuous Housing [only if finding a unit is difficult. The building should be no problem. The interior rebuilds could have left a 'maze' to get to some units.] In Tune Perfect Roommate Privacy Screen Physical [interior units] Privacy Screen Astral [neighbors wards and/or spirits make astral access difficult] Privacy Screen Matrix [it is so customized? Heavy matrix user neighbors?] Rad Pad Reinforced Housing Resonance Well [love to stick this on the building management nexus, but Fre∑dom would be seriously wanting to move in, and probably spending all there time trying to protect it ] Yeah, leave something for the Freedom lot to play with - they probably have on e at the mall!Security Conscious Well Made Workplace
** Negative **
AI in Residence
Ambushers Delight
Black Hole
Crash Pad
Defective CHN
Green Plan [individual units, renovation did not include power to this space] Haunted Household Gremlins Lax Security Living by Committee Living with Parents Network Bottleneck No Forwarding Address Nosy Neighbors No Privacy [Physical, Astral, Matrix] [should be enough variation in the warehouse to not 'break' when some neighbors might take the reverse] Pest Magnet Poor Condition Sprite Magnet This Isn't Big Bob's Autos Trigger-Happy Landlord Unsound/Unsafe Worse Neighbors

Assuming the Mechanicals 'manage' the building, the common qualities I expect would be from:
Concerned Neighbors
Easy-Going Landlord
Friendly Neighbors
Homegrown Farming
Perfect Roommate
Rad Pad [for the Steampunk theme]
Workplace
Black Hole
Crash Pad
Defective CHN
Household Gremlins
Living by Committee
Pest Magnet

From that, the Lifestyle I am building for Sprogget is:
Comforts:Low; Entertainment:Squatter; Necessities:Middle; Neighborhood:Low, Security:Middle, with a bunch of qualities. Great

Comforts:Low RC154
- cheap / scrounged / repaired furniture. Squatter level mismatched, but Tribe skills picked out, repaired, and somewhat matched into sets. The AR paint on the walls is probably the most expensive direct expenditure. Even that was from multiple sources: factory seconds, stolen, salvaged in small lots, but creative use makes it work. The drone(s) were salvaged, repaired, refurbished. And often steampunked. Virtual wall space provided through exchange of services with Fre∑dom.

Entertainment:Squatter RC154
- Other than the local dive, whatever Entertainment there is probably provided through Fre∑dom. With how hard it is just to survive, there is minimal budget for Entertainment. Priority is still on upgrades elsewhere.

Necessities:Middle RC155
- The warehouse is nice and large, even subdivided into units. The Tribe personal efforts plus exchange of services have arranged for reasonably stable [pirated] utilities. Fre∑dom provides pretty good matrix. The warehouse has an area reserved on the ground floor for parking, although few residents drive much.

Neighborhood:Low
- What can I say? Typical gang provided security for the street. The 'protection' here is one of the major recurring expenses for residents. Not as much exchange of services as is done for Fre∑dom resources.

Security:Middle
- Another place that the Tribe continues to focus considerable effort. The basic warehouse security infrastructure was pretty good to start with, but with the scavenging, creativity, and building skills, that has be improved. A lot of the equipment used might be rather none standard, but it does the job. Individual units [may] have their own CHN, but there is also a scavenged nexus managing the building and security related sensors. Cameras, motion sensors, UWB radar, sonar and more are all used in different places. Salvaged and re-purposed from all sorts of equipment. The sensors are moved between locations somewhat randomly, to make it more difficult to plan an approach that can defeat a specific sensor. Really this is almost High security, except that the security patrols are mostly the residences themselves. The security drones are all scavenged, repaired, rebuilt and often customized. The mix of drones, with widely varying capabilities is just one more challenge to anyone attempting to sneak in. Many of the access points include fairly heavy weapons capabilities. So what if there were scavenged from some the remains of a runner vehicle that ran afoul of the law. Or even the turret from a citymaster that got too far into the barrens without enough backup. Enough of the residents have some magical ability that there is usually a spirit or 2 on patrol. They may not be high level spirits, but still good enough to yell 'hey rube', and wake up the rest.

Lifestyle Qualities:
Concerned Neighbors
Friendly Neighbors
In Tune
Workplace
AI in Residence
Crash Pad
Household Gremlins(1)
Living by Committee
No Privacy, Physical(1)
Spite Magnet(1)

I considered "Easy-Going Landlord", but figured that since most of the cash outlay ends up going to protection/security, it might not be appropriate.

Sprogget and the lifestyle. For infrastructure renovation and maintenance, he has [will have] access to a tutor sprite with the Proficiency power AR156. I do not see which SR4 skill directly applies to architecture / building construction and remodeling, but as a minimum a tutor sprite with a architecture or engineering professional knowsoft should be a good start. He can also run a sprite to do a shift on matrix security.

Main part of the character build done, but still balancing the last few points and equipment. Still need to write up the character profile information. I have most of it in my head, but need to get it down where I can actually use it.

Another big post as I flesh out character details, and prepare for some expected in game actions.

Would you like to use the designed [adjusted as needed] converted warehouse IC for other PC/NPC? Yes, as noted above, they will use a series of linked buildings. If so pick a few details to fit the in game environment you would like to start with: physical size [foot print, number of floors, sq meters]; current population; residents mixture [tribe vs outsiders, PC vs NPC]; who the official management is. I'll use any extra information to tweak some character build details, whether you want to include in game or not. Will try and get some of this info in a new post, but I want you lot to have a say too...

To go with the converted warehouse, I would like to use a Day Job negative quality, specified as working *for* the 'community association' / warehouse 'management'. Job details to vary depending on warehouse details. Sprogget could even act as the 'super'. The general job concept is Mr.FixIt for the converted units. With his own skills plus drones plus sprites, he should be able to cover a lot of territory in areas needed by the management: Security, infrastructure maintenance, upgrades. The question that goes with this, is how much 'value' can be associated with the Day Job, and which Day Job levels are appropriate. Probably no cash, given the back story, but perhaps can trade for lifestyle costs. Given enough here, Sprogget can upgrade to Middle [equivalent] lifestyle, and still stay 'in role'. Saying both that the work is paying for the extras, and that working there means knowing the place well enough to 'find' one of the better units. All fine!

Would lifestyle quality bonuses apply to compiled or registered sprites? How about to visitors Sprogget brings home? Feng Shui +3 to technical skills; In Tune +2 to all resonance-based tests when physically at home. If that In Tune carries over to guests, Sprogget is going to end up with a TM GF Also the Crash Pad negative quality is going to attract TMs. If applies to sprites, I assume that 'physically at home' means either the home CHN, or the PC bionode when PC is at home.

Does that Feng Shui technical skill bonus apply to threading, which is Software + Resonance? Pretty certain threading is a resonance not a technical skill...more thought needed on that one perhaps...but don't want TMs to be too good

Can a TM use an autosoft CF [and how]? autosofts are normally only used as 'improvements' to drone pilot programs. They do not run standalone. Can a TM use an autosoft CF to temporarily upgrade the pilot of a node he is subscribed to? I had not thought this was valid, but I noticed when using the Chummer program that it allowed buying autosoft CFs. Could be an error there of course. Don't think so...if you want to ask the question in the rules forum and then link the reply here that would be great

This question turned up in a different forum thread, but repeat here: The Proficiency sprite power UW156 has information about using a tutor sprite skillsoft as an instructor or tutorsoft, and as as AR or VR assistant to avoid defaulting when the user does not have the appropriate skill. A detail that is missing, is what effect skillsoft + Proficiency has when the user already has the needed skill. Normal teamwork does not seem quite right, since the dice pool limit [based on user skill level] could be less than the sprite rate / 2 that would be obtained without the skill. No skill plus rating 3 or 4 tutor sprite give equivalent of skill(2), although slow. What to do with skill(1) plus sprite(4)? The karma rules in this thread are a little different from normal. Once you have the karma (by posting) you can spend it how you want when you want, even mid scene. I know it's not completely realistic but given that pbp games are often slooow it seems to work ok.

Sensitive System is an 'easy' negative quality to take for a TM that is not intending to take any implants anyway. It fits in game, since implants reduce maximum resonance, directly affecting their TM abilities. Their body would 'fight' implants. Reasonable quality to take? Fine

The Daedalus Paragon UW150 negative is for devices built or modified by the TM. That should not apply to direct repairs, to get back to factory spec?. The corresponding advantage is +2 dice to Hardware Tests. Hardware SR4A127 is a skill in the Electronics group, and is for computers and electronic devices. Would the negative carry over to other skills like artisan or automotive mechanic? Up to you, if it makes for a more interesting game, why not, of course by RAW I don't think it would... Those could include nodes and peripheral devices where customization could apply the negative, but normal repairs, and most [non device node related] upgrades should not have problems. Looking for the scope of where he, or people that know him, have discovered that it is not the best idea for him to do work, unless for his personal use. [grin] Maybe some of the converted units in the warehouse with the Household Gremlins lifestyle quality were from something he worked on [/grin]. He should at least be able to use tutor sprites and skillsofts to do plans and verifications for changes [don't take out that wall, you will weaken the support for the roof: there is a good spot to connect to building power just over here, without tripping breakers all the time: this needs to be a bigger pipe, to carry enough water for units down at this end]

For the Day Job, some abilities that fit: