Bull, any chance we're going to see the new Missions FAQ release with SR5 on (or near) July 11th?

I've looked through the previews so far, and the freeRPG day QuickStart, and I'm looking forward to the PDF release. In the meantime, though, I do have a few questions I hope you could address, pertaining to Missions.

1) I notice the Sprawl Ganger template has a used cyberarm. Will used 'ware be available in Missions for SR5, or is it still going to be prohibited?

2) I'm sort of intrigued with an Enchantment Aspected Magician (the concept, anyway, I haven't seen rules for the Alchemical preparations or anything yet). Traditionally, Missions hasn't allowed for a lot of the item creation type abilities (Enchanting Foci, Spoofing Lifestyle, designing cybersuites). Are we going to be looking at similar restrictions on the Enchanting group in SR5?

3) As I understand it, everyone's starting with a clean slate character/Karma-wise for 5th (good call). However, will there be a Promotion system at some point, and are there any Perqs for players retiring characters?

4) It looks like the SR5 Core includes a lot of the stuff from Runner's Companion/Street Magic/etc. Is there again a list of Qualities banned from Missions? (Looking at the Sprawl Ganger again, with the Dependents NQ)

Heya.

Yes, I have a draft of the FAQ sitting here waiting for approval from the powers that be. Once I get the stamp of approval, it'll go to layout and be posted for download like Season 4 was. We also plan to diligently update it as each new major book release comes out.

Generally speaking, don't expect too much to change in what is and isn't allowed from season 4 to season 5. The reasons for disallowing stuff then still applies now, by and large.

There is some basic promotion guidelines, but they're primarily for taking a character to Prime Runner status for the incoming Prime Runner missions (The first of which should be available around or shortly after SR5 launches). Since everyone's starting with new characters for SR5, we won't have a "forced" promotion again until Season 6, whenever that might be, so it's something most players won't have to worry about till then. (We don't force a promotion on players mid-season, as that would kinda suck).

Bull

Thanks, good to know. And thanks for the quick response. I figured as much, I just wasn't sure if some of that stuff had been reworked with an eye towards Missions.

A few things have been, but it's mostly the broad spectrum stuff that we sorta house ruled to make it more useable within the Missions framework. Other stuff makes sense within the game world and works well for home games where a GM can kind of control it and keep it from being abused and effecting game balance too much, but in Missions we lack that ability to individually limit abuse, so we have to blanket disallow.

Hmmm so if I want dependents I need to play a sprawl ganger from the book....

so much for my plan to play super-mom. The Shadowrunning Housewife with 3 little kids and a day job.

Just take your kids as contacts, or even other mom like contacts like the local school teacher, soccer coach etc...

Yeah, effectively certain Archtypes aren't really Missions legal. Kinda sucks, but... Players should make their own characters anyway and not just play an Archetype. That's why we give you a "free respec" after your first game session, in case you got stck playing one.

Bull

Sure, and mostly I run missions, I don't get to play them.

I just keep wanting to create Helen Tasker (Jamie Lee Curtis's character from True Lies) based on what happens after True Lies is over.

Fill her with Cyber/Bio, some fire-arms training, a pair of dependents and a day job as a member of the PTA.

Well, nothing stops you from building that character, you just can't get points for it.

Be glad no one lets me do what I want. I'd force characters to take a minimum number of flaws without compensation. We used to just call this providing story hooks for our characters once upon a time, back before there were Edges and Flaws.

Same here. Character development was so much better back then...

Merits and Flaws have always been a bad game mechanic. I'd have loved to see them go away for SR5, but no such luck.

Unfortunatly they're a staple for gaming these days, and people are far too attached to them.

Of course, I'm an old grognard. I keep threatening my friends with an OLD school basic D&D game where we do Chargen "straight". aka 3D6, straight down the line, see what you're eligible to play.

Ah, those were the days.

Wouldn't scare me I have stat dice.

Hard to do campaigns that way much of the time, but that can be a ton of fun for one shots or shorter campaigns.

I'm just happy Shadowrun has gone "old school" and brought back priorities as the primary character generation method. I always felt that was one of the reason SR4 was Shadowrun in name only.

That's why we pre-rolled characters, had them all on 3x5 cards, and then everyone drew a card instead of having to watch all the cheaters rolling their own stats.

These days, I'd probably just have excel calculate it all on the spot and give everyone stats.

I've been playing one of those at lunch at work... it's kind of amusing to have 9/10/11/9/8/10 for stats...

Hell, I still use this method to roll D&D Characters whenever I get a chance to play. It's amusing watching the look of horror on the GM's face as he/she cringes in anticipation of me rolling an ungodly low mental attribute. Bwahahaha.

Know your players. Mine would all revolt at that kind of game. Not everyone wants to play "normal" people; some of us happen to like our bigger-than-life heroes.

Heh, in -that- game none of the player characters are "normal", but more like psychopathic serial killers clear-cutting their world of anything and anyone with a copper piece to call their own.

I take serious offense at that comment.

The last Shadowrun campaign I ran, the player characters ran for a certain political organization, helping people in need and promoting the group's social interests. The fact that the organization in question was Humanis meant nothing; the group was still primarily a bunch of Robin Hood-morality, peacekeeping, pacifistic folks determined to help the people in the community -- okay, mainly humans, but they bore no ill will towards anyone.

None of these player characters were 'flawed' but all were interesting.

If your campaigns devolve into "psychopathic serial killers clear-cutting their world of anything and anyone with a copper piece to call their own", keep in mind that not everyone's as mercenary as you think they are.

I have observed most Organized Play campaigns, not just Shadowrun Missions, end up after a while with a large number of generally cynical jaded arrogant mercenary types I like to call The League of Incredible Bastards.

The longer a given player participates in a campaign the greater the chance his or her characters start showing signs of Bastardness.





-k

Maybe I missed something. I thought he was talking about Dungeons and Dragons.