Intro: Hey all, it's been a while since I've been to ye olde DS. Good to see it's still running. (Running, geddit? I made a pun.) With SR5 nearly upon us, and previews going out left and right, I thought it'd only be right and proper to do an SR4 game. I haven't played SR in a while, but running some IM roleplay with a fun bit of rules and character building has reinvigorated my GM instincts. I've got itchy dice, people, and my doctor already ruled out herpes. Obviously, there remains only one thing to do - and that's play some fraggin' Shadowrun.
Campaign Info: The game, like the title, will be called The End is Nigh. We'll be starting in '71, right at the end of Emergence, and the idea is to slowly work our way through various canon plot-threads and my own. The tone I'm looking for is Shadowrun - gritty, hard, and fucking horrible, just with a pretty new layer of chrome to cover the shit and dead junkies. What does that mean? Basically, I expect high lethality. This doesn't mean straight Trenchcoat Mafia - if you wanna roll a trog with a 3-foot 'hawk, go ahead. You'll probably just want to have a few extra characters in backup. Just in case. The stupid die, the smart die a little slower (or retire, but when was the last time a runner actually retired?) Basically, my vision of Seattle is pretty much dead junkies floating down the Puget Sound upstream from a Barrens ork child trying to catch purposefully-mutated Awakened grouper for dinner while his mother tricks on the corner for her next hit of Bliss. It might be post-cyberpunk, but the Sixth World is still full-on dystopia.
Rules: we're using karmagen, with Chummer. A few house rules and such apply, I'll list them in a moment. Characters should be 750 karma, with 5x attribute costs and metatype costs apply. Don't munchkin. Common sense applies. The ultimate house rule is thus - fluff > crunch. None of the 'special character options' from Runner's Companion are allowed: no Free Spirits, AIs, Drakes, Shifters, Infected, etc and so forth. SURGE is allowed, but on an approval basis, mind. No simply taking some SURGEd genetic quality just because it lets you squeeze an extra 1-2DP. Anything else, ask.
Tick these boxes in Chummer:
-Limit skills to 20 DP or 2x (Skill+att)
-Allow skills to be re-grouped
-metatypes cost karma
-High Str affects recoil
-Use max Armour Mods
-Use Armour Suit Capacity
-Allow Skill groups to be broken in chargen
-Free Contact Points for Chax2
-Karma Build: Free Knowledge Points like BP
-Alternate Armour Encumbrance - Bod+Str
-Special Attributes don't count towards the 50% limit in chargen
Logistics: The game'll be at 7PM EST every Wednesday - I'm hoping for a weekly game, if it turns bi-weekly, I can live with that. We're running over Skype and IRC: Skype for OOC crap (having a mic is recommended, but not necessarily required), and IRC for in-game. I'll help anyone who needs it in setting up an IRC client. The game'll typically take 3-4 hours, so block off the time. It hurts me, and the other players, when someone needs to repeatedly leave an hour early.
The Players: We'll need a full crew. There's a hacker down already, so we still need the Dakkadakka and someone (probably an elf) to hump the air repeatedly (probably an elf. Or a dwarf. Or a trog. Trog faces are fun.) A mage would be nice, since some threats require magic (or overwhelming firepower) to remove. I'd like people with at least cursory experience with the game - you played a game during a con, ran Food Fight 4.0 because you were bored one day, etc. The rules start off simple, but can get complicated real fast (meaning hacking. Or vehicle combat.) That applies to me as well - it's been a long damn while since I've GM'd an SR4 game, but I've been brushing up. Though I like players with setting knowledge over rules knowledge any day, because you can learn what dice do easier than 20+ years of SR history.
How to contact me: This thread! Or on Skype - loditein. Feel free to hit me up with questions and what have you.
TL;DR Version: SR4 game on IRC and Skype 7PM EST Wednesdays, setting knowledge required, karmagen using Chummer and a few house and optional rules. Gritty. Contact here or on Skype.