Hello all,

So, having run one PbP game and participated in 5 or 6 more, I'm ready to launch another game

I've learned that it is important for all participants to have the same expectations going in, otherwise it simply falls apart.

I've learned that as soon as the "action" stops (whether that is roleplay, or combat, or planning) - the game starts to hiccup like an engine with a bad transmission, and stalls - so the GM has to step in and fix it.

With those two things in mind, here is a little backstory on me and what I'm looking for in a game.

I work at a job where I am in front of a computer 8 hours a day, with a lot of downtime. I will post every day (whether OOC or IC) and be able to post multiple times. I have played Shadowrun since 1e back in 1990 when I was in college, and have never really liked any other role-playing game as much as this one. Having said that, I did not make the change from 3e to 4e - skipping directly from 3e to 5e.

I currently run a 5e PnP game set in Denver, and I find the setting compelling, with lots of potential. The game will take place primarily in the UCAS sector, but players can of course travel to other sectors if needed. Your character should be a resident of the UCAS sector, or if not, have an excellent reason for having to cross back and forth from whatever sector you live in to the UCAS on a regular basis. (Any questions on this, I'm happy to help).

Here is what I'm looking for:

Four players who can post at least once a day. You don't have to post more than once (obviously if you can, that's awesome) but you have to be able to post at least once a day. If you think you can't, please don't join. I totally understand that many people can't do that (or don't want to) - and that is fine, but it only takes one player to start not posting regularly and it just kills the game.

If something comes up, your daughter is sick, your wife is ready to kill you for being on the computer too much, etc, just PM me, and I will help move the scene forward for you. I will try and make sure your character acts and speaks in a way consistent with the way you have been playing him/her - and I won't just get them killed.

My game is not pink mohawk. It doesn't mean you can't make characters who are combat oriented, but don't expect to run around with Panther Assault Cannons in milspec armor and not get arrested pretty quickly.

For power level, I am comfortable if you have a 6 skill in your primary area and 4-5 in your secondary areas. I would prefer characters without dumpstats - i.e. "1"s in a stat - unless you did that to add to roleplay - a 1 strength character is really weak, a 1 intelligence character is really dumb, etc.

My preference for my games is light on magic/technomancy. So, while I'm not saying there can't be a mage, I would prefer not to have 4 magically active characters, and I'm not a fan of technomancers either, so if we could have a decker instead, that would be great.

With all that in mind, if you come and play, I will do my level best to make the game fun for everyone. Each character, regardless of skillset, should have a chance to shine.

Characters should be made with standard 5e rules. When the adventure is over, I will start another, and you can keep the same characters upgrading them with karma or create new ones if you wish.

Any questions, please feel free to ask - look forward to gaming with you.

I would be interested in playing in an SR5 PbP, Lobo0705. I have a fairly similar work situation, so I should be able to meet your requested participation level.

Do you want a full character sheet or just a concept at this point? I'm not entirely familiar with Denver other than knowing it has been divided into several districts controlled by different nations. I'm leaning toward playing a decker.

Welcome aboard

A character concept for now is fine - but if you want to do the full character, that is fine as well. Once we get the other 3 players, we can coordinate who knows who (if any).

Below you will find a basic overview of the setting:

GEOPOLITICAL OVERVIEW
The Front Range Free Zone (FRFZ), the official name for Denver, is
divided into four sectors, each controlled by a different nation with
its own laws for governing within its sector.  the Council of Denver is
made up of a single representative elected from each sector to serve as
a unified governance council over the city-state. After the arrival of the
great dragon Ghostwalker at the end of 2061, he harassed and attacked
the Aztlan sector, driving them out of the FRFZ.  The CAS was offered
the sector previously controlled by Aztlan.  The absorption of the Ute
Nation into the Pueblo Corporate Council left the PCC with a sector
nearly twice as large as any other. While Ghostwalker always maintains
a presence at the Council through his Voice, the majority of day-to-
day decisions are made by the four representatives.  The great dragon
has made it clear on multiple occasions that the Council of Denver
operates at his will and can be replaced or removed entirely if they act
against his interests.
To provide security for the city without creating a conflict of interest
for any given sector, the Council of Denver established the Zone
Defense Force (ZDF).  The ZDF is composed of an equal number of
troops from each of the constituent nations and answers directly to
Ghostwalker. Its charter is to defend the FRFZ against all threats and is
the only standing army allowed in Denver. Working as a special police
force, the Zone Defense Force guards the Administrative and Council
buildings in Denver, but also investigates cross-sector crime.  The ZDF
also works to curtail smuggling in and out of the Mile High City.
Travel between sectors is difficult due to the large border walls
that cut off most passage. Passing through the checkpoints is very similar
to crossing the borders between nations.  The borders are patrolled
by ZDF forces, though each checkpoint is manned by personnel from
that nation-state. It is recommended for those new to the city to utilize
the public transit system of maglevs and subways to ease the transition
between sectors. Use of the transit systems o ers a seamless veri cation
system and agents can provide necessary forms for completion without
blocking traffic flow for residents.


THE SECTORS
The old Aztlan sector has experienced both a revitalization period and new business developments since 2062. Rebuilding from the destruction
caused by Ghostwalker’s forcible removal of the Aztlaners has allowed for a more modern face to replace the older skyline. Home to
the Old Downtown area of Denver and the Chinatown District, the CAS sector is commonly visited by tourists. The University of Denver sits at the
northern end, and has been completely restored. Many graduates go on to successful careers within local politics or the corporate world.
With the formation of the Hub and ensuing balkanization, property values in the Downtown area dropped rapidly and many businesses were forced to close
due to economic hardship. While Millionaire’s Row is still firmly established with large gated mansions, most of the middle
class population has moved to nearby Englewood.

Clean and organized, the Pueblo Sector is the most corporate and efficient sector. As with other sections of the PCC,
the sector is run as a corporation, with timetables established and project work-flows maintained for all aspects of city
planning.  The sector touts the lowest crime rate throughout the metroplex, stating that it is due to the organization of the city. Following the Crash 2.0, Pueblo rebuilt
the Matrix infrastructure along similar lines as to how the unified grid had been previously managed. In conjunction with the Wireless Matrix Initiative, the network is distributed over all four sectors, though the
processes that manage data flow and network balancing are still located in the Pueblo Sector.

Known for their eco-friendly communities and open parks, the Sioux sector is interspersed with greenery uncommon in most metroplexes.
The majority of the sector is laid out with planned communities, creating a lifestyle conducive to modern society. Many of the houses in the area have smaller than average yards and the communities gather
together in the large parks during the summer months for regular festivals.  The northern area, near Commerce City, is distinctly different
from the rest of the sector. Here, industrial factories work to produce goods. Many of the sector’s blue-collar workers have their jobs here. As of 2070, Lucinda Gray Arrow, the Sioux Council member, has called
for a re-examination of the area. Several corporations are working with the Sioux to clean up the pollution caused by industrialization and
develop sustainable practices.

Initially established as a remote colony, separated from the rest of the UCAS, their Denver sector has grown into a corporate community. Primarily inhabited by corporate employees, the UCAS sector is full
of rolling enclaves and small corporate offices.  These smaller offices serve as community locations for local corporate personnel to avoid
the commute into the Hub and downtown facilities.

The UCAS sector borders along the Rocky Mountain National
Reserve, a national park established under the old United States and
held by the UCAS after the NAN uprising.  The Reserve is home to
natural wildlife which occasionally enters into the nearby community
of Montebello. Because of its national reservation status, citizens are
forbidden to hunt there without special licensing.

SPECIAL LOCATIONS
Located in the UCAS sector, the Aurora Warrens have been slated for
demolition since the original Treaty of Denver was signed.  The area is
home to urban squatters, go-gangs, and syndicate bordellos.  The UCAS
Council member, Iain Lesker made several speeches in from 2069 to
2070 regarding the area and calling for its immediate demolition and
reconstruction. Funding has still not been approved for the task, and
the question remains as to what to do with the population that would
invariably need to be relocated before demolition could begin.

During the balkanization of Denver, the Council did not want
to leave the entire downtown area under Aztlan’s encroaching influence.
With some creative map drawing, the UCAS and Sioux governments
moved quickly to secure sections of the downtown corridor.

Nestled within what eventually became the CAS Sector, the Hub is a sector
within a sector. Divided between the UCAS and the Sioux, the Hub measures
from 28th Avenue to Colfax and from Speer Boulevard to Pearl Street. The
Hub contains the Denver Council Hall, Ghostwalker’s Liason office, and several
autonomous corporate enclaves including Evo, Shiawase, and Mitsuhama.  The
neighborhood is home to some of the nicer restaurants, theaters, and dance
clubs in the FRFZ.  The Draco Foundation maintains a large office here as well, coordinating efforts with branch offices in the CAS, near
Cherry Lake, and in the PCC near Arvada. Access to the Hub is restricted from the CAS sector, with the
majority of visitors coming directly from the Sioux or UCAS sectors to their respective sides of the Hub via air-taxi. Union Station is the
only access checkpoint from the CAS sector into the Hub.

Sounds great, I'd love to join your game. I am also in front of a computer most of the day and will be able to post more than once a (week)day. I might miss one of the two daily posts some weekends. If that's a problem, let me know and I won't join.

I would really enjoy playing a mystic adept if that's okay. I've been itching to try to play one in SR5 since it came out. I almost played one in another PbP game that was starting and "someone else" took the mage spot

I'm not sure yet what concept I would go for beyond that. When you say you want a magic-light game, do you mean I shouldn't max out magical potential? How do you feel about bound spirits, foci, astral projection (won't happen with mystic adept though), etc.?

How dare "someone" take the mage spot on you ?

If you are talking about missing one or two posts every other weekend or so, that is ok with me - as long as you are comfortable that I may have to post as you to keep the game moving if necessary.

With magic-light, I just mean that for me, magic is something that exists in Shadowrun, but the vast majority of people you meet are not going to be magically active, and I want a team to reflect that.

A Mystic Adept is fine - given that one of the issues that can slow a game down is Astral Projection, as the mage flies around searching for stuff while the other players are left in limbo.

Spirits are fine, as long as you keep the force relatively low - high force spirits tend to wreck game balance (IMHO). This doesn't mean you can't ever summon a high force spirit, but characters who can routinely summon Force 8 or 9 spirits can wreck a game. (You'll see when I play in the other game, the normal force I will summon my spirits at will be 3 or 4. If they need to be in combat, I might bring it up to a 6 at maximum).

A quick note - I do use the "Hot Patch" Errata that has Mystic Adept PP costing 5 karma per point instead of 2 karma per PP.

Any other questions?

Awesome, here's the character concept. I'll work on adapting the character sheet for Denver. Should have it posted this evening.

ETA: I have a file of 5e characters I've put together that I could use in case someone else desperately wants to play a decker. I'm pretty ambivalent about it.

Handle: Wraith Two-Timer
Name: Rachel Davenport
Gender: Female
Race: Elf
Primary Role: Decker
Secondary Role: Terrible Face

I do too!

No I think I got it. I'll be willing to adjust my character sheet however way might help make the game more enjoyable for all.

Edit: Yes that's exactly what I had in mind. I might miss one post during the weekend once in a while, and of course I don't mind that the game then moves along.

I am able to post at least once a day.

I would actually really like to try out a decker, my 3rd ed GM didn't like the decking system so I have never had the opportunity to actual try one out.

I also skipped straight from 3rd to 5th edition SR.

@Lobo0705: If Always Overkill wants to run a decker, I've got another runner I can submit. I have no idea how well this guy will work in gameplay, but I am willing to give him a shot. The background is a little cliche, but I think it could make sense given the history of Denver and Ghostwalker's take down of the Azzies.

Handle: Jack Vii
Name: ?
Gender: Male
Race: Ork
Primary Role: Combatant
Secondary Role: <Load Program>

If accepted, I have a much more in-depth background including the parts even Jack doesn't know.

Name: Garrett Dramen
Alias: Drave
Archetype: Decker
Race: Elf

Drave was born in 2038 in Berlin to human parents, another example of UGE. His father was a professor of sociology and a leader in the Independant German Socialist Party who
merged with the Anarchist Movement that managed to take control of Berlin in 2039. Drave was raised there in relative peace, studying IT and Matrix Security at the Berlin
Free Academy until 2055, when the Allied German States contracted the Megacorps to retake the city from the Anarchs in 2055. Despite great losses in the opening weeks of the
conflict, the Berlin Anarchist Defense Force regrouped and struck back. Even though they were greatly out-manned and out-gunned;
and massive corp efforts to achieve a hastened victory were attempted regularly, the Anarchs held out against the odds, fighting on for over 5 years in the
war-torn city. When a truce was signed between the AGS/Megacorps and the last stubborn anarchists still holding out, bottled up in the far eastern section
of Berlin, Drave knew his home was gone forever.

He knew he had to get out of the city; being a stubborn hold-out resistance fighter against the Megacorps in a well-publicized conflict puts you on a lot of
hit lists. He went underground, faking his own death alongside many BADF fighters who survived to the end of the Seige in Betrieb Weihnachtsgeschenk Überraschung
(Operation Christmas Present Surprise.) Once he was out of Berlin, he used his connections to leave Europe for North America to help leave a cold trail for any who
might follow. He is now working as a Shadowrunnerin Denver, taking whatever jobs he can find to give some grief to the Megacorps who destroyed his home.


Drave is 5'9" about 150lbs with long black hair and a lithe, agile appearance. He wears dark shades, with the faint green glow visible behind them much like
that of the stone age computers of the 1970-80s, along with a long grey wool trenchcoat, black undershirt, and black leather pants and boots. He has a number
of shiny tech devices; commlinks, scanners, jammers, etc., mounted to a tactical harness he wears under his coat.

Excellent

So we have:

Jack as a Samurai
Always as a Decker
Chrome as a Mystic Adept

Still need one more player.

Some roles we may look to to fill:

Rigger
Face
Infiltrator
PI/Detective

Now - clearly Chrome could be one of those and others could be secondary roles. (Or you could not ignore them )

My character should be able to help out a bit for some of those yes, but it's probably nothing to write home about. I've got the sheet mostly done now, and she currently has 9 dice to roll for skills in the Influence group (I could maybe put a few more points in negotiation if no one else has it, for instance, though I'd have to break the skill group and I don't know if that's allowed at chargen). Control Thoughts can also help resolve a number of problems that a Face has to deal with. Infiltration, well she has a few illusion spells that can go a long way, and so do spirits. Otherwise, she should be quite powerful in combat situations as well, since I think this is where Mystic Adepts can really shine.

I am interested. I am on my phone, so I will post more later. Very excited for a pbp game that moves quickly. I can keep that schedule given my current committments. I will post a character concept very soon.

DrZ

Edit: I've been noodling on a rigger/face for a few weeks. I may write something up for that tomorrow.

Here's my character sheet. Like I said, he's pretty unconventional, but hopefully he will work out adequately. He doesn't really have any huge dicepools, but his whole concept is a jack of all trades, master of none.

Handle: Jack VII
Name: Unknown (Javier Ramirez)
Race: Ork/Latino
Gender: Male
Priorities - A: Resources, B: Race, C: Attributes, D: Skills, E: Magic

ATTRIBUTES (16/16)
BOD 6 WIL 3
AGI 3 (5) LOG 3
REA 3 (4) INT 3
STR 5 (7) CHA 3
EDG 5 ESN 1.2
INI 7 + 2D6
Limits (M/P/S) 4/9/4
Monitor (P/S) 11/10

SKILLS (22/22)
Active
Physical: Perception (4)
Social: Con/Fast Talk (3), Etiquette/Corp (3), Negotiation/Contracts (3)
Technical: Computer (2), First Aid (3)
Vehicle: Pilot Ground (1)
Knowledge
Academic: Economics (2)
Professional: Accounting (2), Business (2)
Interest: Music/Goblin Rock (1)
Street: Denver Area Knowledge (2)
Language: English (N), Spanish (2)

QUALITIES (25 – 15 + 6 = 16 Total Bonus Karma)
Positive: Toughness, Will To Live (2)
Negative: Dependent (Nic)

CONTACTS & REP (6 Bonus Karma Spent)
- Nicodemus, Male Troll Scavenger (1/4): A cantankerous old troll who runs "Nic's Knacks" out of his squat in the Aurora Warrens. The troll scavenges weapons, gear, and "slightly used" cyberware from the urban battlefields of the Warrens.
- Honeypot, Female Elf Fence (4/2): A former prostitute, Honeypot learned pretty quickly that is was preferable to sell other things than herself. With equal amounts of charm and sarcasm, the elf has carved out a moderate sized network to move stolen goods.
- CPL Jason Sinclair, Male Human UCAS ZDF Border Guard (2/2): Young and fairly new to the ZDF Border Guard, CPL Sinclair bonded with "Emilio Sanchez" over a shard love of goblin rock, the two having met during an altercation at a local concert. Sinclair is quietly jealous of "Sanchez's" lifestyle and hopes to one day follow in his footsteps.
Current Karma (0), Total Karma (0), Street Cred (0), Notoriety (0), Public Awareness (0)

GEAR (Current Nuyen: 1,600) (10 Bonus Karma Spent)
Streetline Special [APDS] w/2x Spare Clip [Regular]: 226 (W)
HK227 [Regular] w/3x Spare Clips [Regular]: 969 (W)
Flash-Pak: 125 (W)
Actioneer Business Clothes: 1,500
Armor Jacket w/CP (2), FR (2), IS (2), NC (2): 3,000
Helmet w/Flare Comp, Thermo, Trode-Net, Vision Enhancement (1), & Vision Magnification: 1,675 (W)
Horn Rim Glasses w/Flare Comp, Image Link, Vision Enhancement (2): 1,675 (W)
Earbuds w/Audio Enhancement (3): 1,650 (W)
Hermes Ikon (5) w/Subvocal Mic: 3,050
Gecko Tape Gloves: 250 (W)
Bio-monitor: 300 (W)
Medkit (3): 375 (W)
Standard Credstick: 5
Fake SIN (4) [Emilio Sanchez]: 10,000
Fake License (4) [Augmentations, Concealed Carry, Firearms]: 2,400
1xMonth Low Lifestyle w/Dependent: 2,400

Cyberware (438,800)
Internal Air Tank (3) [Alpha]: 16,200 (0.2) (W)
Muscle Replacement (2) [Alpha]: 60,000 (1.6)
Skilljack (4) [Used]: 60,000 (0.5) (W)
Skillwires (4) [Used]: 60,000 (0.5) (W)
Skillsoft: [Automatics (4), Disguise (1), Diving (2), Free-Fall (1), Gymnastics (2), Navigation (2), Pilot Aircraft (1), Pilot Watercraft (1), Pistols (4), Running (3), Sneaking (4), Survival (2), Throwing Weapons (4), Tracking (2), Unarmed Combat (4)]: 185,000
Smartlink [Alpha]: 4,800 (0.16) (W)
Spurs [Alpha]: 6,000 (0.24)
Wired Reflexes (1) [Alpha]: 46,800 (1.6) (W)

Appearance:
Jack is an ork of Latino descent standing 6'3 and weighing approximately 250 pounds. His features are lightly goblinized, although no one would confuse him for anything other than an ork given the jutting and prominent lower canines. His hair is dark brown and falls slightly below his eyes. Jack is dressed fairly stylishly in a khaki three-piece armored business suit, an affectation to which he feels unconsciously attracted. The ork also wears a pair of stylish horn-rim glasses to complete the look of a successful corp saraiman.

Background:

Jack Vii’s first memories were filled with smoke and flame. Well, smoke, flame, and the ugliest troll he had ever seen. When you’re trapped in the burning carcass of a Hughes Stallion helicopter and the next thing you see is a mechanical claw reaching out to pull you free, you may not be off the mark if you think things are getting worse rather than better.

But that was simply Jack’s initial reaction, he now knows he owes Nic his life and he has worked hard to pay the troll back over the past few months. Getting on to the story, Jack was roasting away in a crashed helicopter when an itinerant troll scavenger named Nicodemus showed up to pick through the wreckage before anyone else had the chance.

Nicodemus is a sight to see. You already read about the crazy arm claw, but his most interesting augmentation (and that term is used loosely here) has to be his right leg or (as he puts it) his left leg. As the story goes, Nicodemus ended up on the wrong end of an gang hoop beating and lost the use of his right leg. Unfortunately, the only thing he had managed to scavenge close to his own size was the left leg from an ork street sam who had bought it a year earlier. Making a horribly sour lemonade out of the lemons the gang had given him, Nic installed the smaller left leg where his right leg had been and has been hobbling and lurching around ever since.

Enough about Nic though, you wanted to know about Jack. So Nic pulls this unconscious ork out of the helicopter. The ork is wearing a jumpsuit with the nametag JACK VII sewn over the left breast pocket. Nic pulls Jack Vii off to the side and tries to get him to wake up so he can figure out what’s worthwhile to take. The ork, however, is out cold and not waking up. Nic proceeds to pick through the wreckage as quickly as he can. Grabbing what he could, he dumps everything into his grocery cart along with the unconscious ork. Nic didn’t know how the helicopter had crashed, but he didn’t want to hang around for the owners to show up and hoped that he might be able to make some money off the ork by rescuing him from the fire. As Nic departed, he noticed a few vehicles turning the corner at a nearby intersection and heading to the crash at high speeds.

Returning to his squat/shop, Nic tended to what injuries his limited medical skills could address and took note of the wiz cyber Jack was sporting. After several hours, the ork finally woke with no memory of what had happened to him or of anything before the crash. Grumbling, Nic realized that the dreamed of payday wasn’t in the cards. At the same time, he realized he had a pretty valuable potential helper in front of him and offered to let Jack stay with him while he recovered. Not really having any other idea of what to do, Jack accepted and has been staying with the troll for several months.

Slowly, some of his memories have returned, mostly from his childhood although a few flashes of his adult life have popped up, mostly images of cubicles and meetings. Jack has slowly learned how to access the varied cyberware in his body and recently accessed the trove of skillsoft stored on his skilljack. The revelation of the type of skills downloaded to his skillwire system have made him wonder what the frag is going on, given that the brief flashes of memories from his adult life and his frequent recollections about corporate life don’t seem to jive with the military skillsoft.

Alias: Emilio Sanchez, former Aztlan soldier and sole proprietor of Sanchez Security, is a certified personnel protection specialist and bodyguard. The training and cyberware he received as a member of the Atztan military lend themselves well to his chosen profession. His primary business is providing personnel protection to non-local clients visiting Denver, providing him a diverse client base.

Very interesting use of a skilljack and skillwires! Very interesting concept too.

It's funny that I started a thread this morning on dumpshock about this very topic! I was even asking if anyone has made a starting character sheet with those items. I continue to think it's quite a bit underpowered for the price (305k in your case), but this remains to be seen since your skill selection is quite vast and you can now easily buy more.

Yeah, I definitely feel a bit underpowered compared to a typical combat guy that I would build, but I wanted to give it a try. It's a full-on concept character, including having roughly average stats for his metatype (arrived by starting at the minimum value and adding 2 to each stat). Also, his actual learned skills are basically from his past life as a corporate wageslave.

I'm pretty sure you can build a stronger character if you moved resources, skills, and attributes around, but I wanted to give the Skillwire Soldier a field test.

And I salute you for it. It's a really cool concept. Btw, don't forget that only a subset of your skillwired skills can be slotted at a time; 8 or 12 if running wireless (sounds quite dangerous ).

Yeah, the skilljack is definitely going to be something I am going to have slaved to my commlink. Having so many skillsoft-based skills sort of frees up my Edge for defensive tests like Full Matrix Defense.

Fortunately, swapping skillsoft out is a free action, so it shouldn't be too much of a challenge to get the package I want together. I also limited the number of rank 4 skillsoft so that I kind of forced myself to keep a fairly broad set of skills going at once.

@Jack

Character approved - I like the "Mr. Average" approach

Will be interesting to work with the amnesia aspect and flashbacks - especially if you enjoy yourself enough to bring the character back for future adventures.

There are elements of Aztechnology working to try to gain influence back for the Megacorp in Denver despite Ghostwalker's strong disapproval (to put it mildly), so that could explain what you were doing in Denver despite it being some years since Aztech was kicked out.

I would say that given Nic's job and lifestyle choice, you would be living in the Aurora Warrens. Chrome's character also lives there, so you may want to coordinate knowing the same contacts or even each other - I think certainly from what little he has PM'd me about his character I can certainly see him knowing Nic.

The only thing I would like you to flesh out is Emilio Sanchez (and this will go for the other characters as well) - who is he, what does he do, why is he licensed for milspec cyberware, etc. It doesn't have to be more than a couple of sentences - you don't have to do a full background on it.

Also (and again a question for all of the players) do you want to come up with the contacts and then have me assign them motivation and personality, or do you want to give me a description of how you would want them to be played?

Either is fine with me.

Excellent - welcome aboard

Now that we have our 4 players, could each of you please PM me your email address? This way I can link you to a Dropbox Folder for maps, handouts, etc, and you can each load a version of your character sheet to it for easy reference.

Once we have all 4 characters up and approved and who knows who, I'll set up the OOC and IC thread.

Wiz, thanks!

We can play this however you want. We can do away with it altogether and have the crash be a 20 year flashback, with Jack having uncovered most of his past by modern day. I think the only issue here is that Jack and Nic are of metatypes that don't live particularly long on average, although that likely has more to do with the relative poverty/violence levels that the average ork and troll experience than genetics.

As above, I leave it in to you to determine what you think would work best in the game.

That works for me. I figured that is where we would end up once you posted the Denver information. Once Chrome gets his character fleshed out, we can certainly coordinate contacts.

I'll get working on this straight away.

I think I would actually prefer the former. I think it makes a contact feel a little more realistic.

Interesting backstory - looking forward to seeing the nuts and bolts of the character

About the contacts, I tend to describe them in sufficient detail to give a clear picture of who the contact is. I also leave it open enough so that it's fun play the NPC for the GM and you're not limited by a strict description. I think this fits more the first option as I don't provide specific instruction on "how to play the NPC". I can adjust to what it is you want though.

About my character knowing Jack, I don't see why not and I think it would be fun. Nic would be a friend of a friend, most likely, and my character is a healer that people in the neighborhood might have heard of. I think that's enough to have them meet before our first run.

I've added details to my listed contacts and added a short alias description at the bottom of my character sheet. I also adjusted my skills a bit by reducing a few skill ranks and adding Computer (2) and Denver Area Knowledge (2). If the last one is too broad, just let me know. I figure he has lived in Denver for a bit, so he has probably picked up some information concerning it.

Other than whatever we decide to do with his backstory, Jack should generally be ready to go.

Excellent - I've added him to the dropbox.

Denver Area Knowledge isn't too broad, if the test requires something very specific, I might just require more successes from you.

I'm thinking that it will be more interesting for him to have just recently crashed, rather than have had it happen years ago, as it potentially allows some of that to come into a future story. (It is possible Aztech is still sort of looking for him after a couple of months - after 20 years, not so much.)

You will just need to determine how much your memory loss affects your character day to day - will be interesting to see you roleplay that.

Is that ok with you?

I will try and put up more in depth information on the Warrens (and the UCAS sector in general) today, as it seems at the very least you and Chrome's character will live there, and it is possible Overkill's decker will live there as well - depending on the background.

The Warrens

Welcome to the neighborhood, chummer... the worst one in all of fragging Denver. The Warrens is less a "place of interest" than a place to stay the fragging hell away from. You think the Barrens in Seattle are bad? They got nothing on this slum. Nothing. Matter of fact, the Warrens are still standing purely on the sufferance of the relocation committee, which could send the bulldozers rolling in on any given morning.

The sector's put no money into maintaining the high-density housing in the Warrens, and it shows. Lone Star patrols the area once in a blue fragging moon, DocWagon responds to calls from the Warrens on a "when we get around to it" basis, and firefighters could care fragging less when minimizing collateral damage. In real English that means that the smoke-eaters will let a building burn to the foundations if the fire appears to be well-entrenched, and concentrate on stopping it from spreading to surrounding buildings. Anywhere else but the Warrens, they'd make an effor to knock out the fire and save at least some of the building.

Organized Crime in the UCAS Sector

The Mafia
The Mafia in Denver bears little resemblance to the Sprawling octopus familiar to residents of the UCAS's East Coast. Here, instead of putting a tentacle in every little pie, the Families concentrate on a couple of areas that, historically, generate most of their profit: gambling, pornogargphy, and prostitution.

The mob keeps almost completely away from chiplegging, and it only dabbles in the illegal pharmaceuticals trade.

Don't make the mistake of selling the Mafia short, however. In their chosen areas of expertise, they're highly successful, and very touch about people trying to cut in on their action. The Mafia pumped up the illegal gambling biz in the Free Zone almost solo, and it manages to shut the yaks almost completely out of this major moneymaker.

The Chavez and Casquilho families are the only two operating in Denver. While they maintain a nominal alliance with each other, it is not unheard of for them to step on each other's toes, so to speak.

The Yakuza

The yakuza currently control approximately half of the Free Zone distribution channels for illegal chip. Various Triads and independent operators control the res. The yaks also maintain a tight hold on the illegal drug trad, a market they largely developed.

The yakuza act as a central "service provider" for extortion, sabotage, and assassination, hiring out their assets to anyone willing to pay the tab. Shadow traders and t-bird jammers determined to eliminate their competitors frequently use the services of the yaks. Their excellent reputation for successfully discharging such contracts puts them in high demand, but the relatively high costs of their services serve to limit the use of this resource.

The two factions of Yakuza currently in the Free Zone are the Yamato and the Wakenda gumi's - both of which dislike each other intensely.

The Gangs

The Denver area supports a fair share of local and imported gangs. Of the homegrown bully boys, the Fronts and the Godz wield the most influence.
The Fronts operate mainly in the UCAS and CAS sectors, with probably a dozen groups, which they call "sets" scattered throughout the Free Zone. A set averages fifty members, mostly male, mostly human and ork. Some of the sets, like the Trey Eights, which tears up the Warrens area, fall into the just-your-typical-thrill-gangers category, messing up property and people for the pure thrill of it. Others, like the BBs, put their heaviest muscle into business activities. The BBs deal drugs and chips, act as fixers for out-of-sector jammers and smugglers, and often hire themselves out en masse to jammers who feel the need for bodyguards.

The Godz take a serious interest in the go-gang side of things, tearing up the highways and byways of the Pueblo sector. Boulder supports a major battalion (their term), numbering maybe a hundred warm bodies, with smaller battalions scattered throughout the areas west of Intercity 25. The Godz depend on smugglers for their financial well-being. The gangers offer a protection service: they escort smugglers and Zoners across sectors, protecting them mainly from other battalions of the Godz. They also chastise anyone impolite enough to refuse their offered service.

Only a few of North America's first tier gangs operate "franchises" in the Free Zone. The Hudson Hawks of New York and the Braineaters out of Austin both support small detachments, while rumor credits the Cutters - highly influential on the West Coast - with two safe houses and as many as eighty members in the UCAS Zone. The first two gangs run biz catch-as catch-can, but the Cutters have already made a name for themselves in arms dealing.

Works for me. I've made my final adjustments to my charsheet and uploaded a PDF copy to DropBox. The only major change is his alias name (Emilio to Diego, just a personal preference).

I see the memory loss as mostly impacting his awareness of his past, but intend to play it up whenever anything even slightly obscure in the last 20 years is brought up. I figure that he probably went ahead and read through a history book to gather a coarse understanding of the world but doesn't know a lot of details, particularly things that wouldn't normally be covered in great detail in history books (e.g. "Seinfeld? Never heard of him...")

Oh, LOL! I think I'm making one part of his morning routine reading "today's" newspaper from 20 years ago with his morning soykaf.

Double Post

Since I hate double posts, I figured I would use the post for a purpose.

When I access this site from my work computer, it shows the opening post and then lists a message board tree underneath the post rather than having each post show up in-line, in order that they were posted (as it shows up when I access the site at home). Does anyone know if there is some setting that I need to change to get posts to show up inline? TIA!

Who thinks I should take a basic Control Rig and a few surveillance Drones?

Or should I just stick with specializing in Decking?

Opinions greatly appreciated.

-Always Overkill

I think DrZaius indicated that they might be playing a rigger, so we might be covered there, depending on what the character looks like.

With that said, I don't see any reason why you wouldn't pick up a few surveillance drones anyway. You can still individually issue them commands/remote control them using just a commlink or cyberdeck.

I am planning on building a face/rigger. I have recently played a decker/rigger; it's an ok mix.

My current plan, as far as vehicles/drones go:

1) go-fast car (getaways, generally getting around)
2) fake cab, remote controlled (probably an Americar). Could also be a delivery van. Secondary transport, drone storage.
3) Variety of recon drones. Various flying ones, microdrones, little bugs for crawling around, etc.
4) Armed heavy-support drones. Likely hiding inside the cab/delivery van most of the time. Only come out when we need serious help.

So there you go. If you wanted to grab a few recon drones I don't really see an issue; I'd just be concerned from a cost/benefit standpoint. In my limited hacking experience, it is difficult to do anything *but* hack when you're on a run. There are always cameras to turn off, doors to open, elevators to control, etc. You'd also be able to see through the feed of my drones (I presume).

All that aside, if you think it's something your character would have, and think it's a cool idea I'd say go for it. But if you're just doing it to try and fill out the group comprehensively, I'd say we're likely covered pretty decently (given my current plan).

-DrZ

Good point, It would be a squeeze anyways. I will just take a couple Flyspies (or as they are known in German, Fliegegeheimagents) for utilities sake; I will leave the serious
rigging in your capable hands.

Trying to find it in the book, but can you just spend 3 skill points to raise a skillgroup? Trying to spread my points a bit better for versatility's sake.

-Always Overkill

Sorry - although a cool idea, it isn't allowed (although they bury it in the middle of a paragraph)

Page 88

Skill group points may not be used to purchase individual
skills and vice versa.

At Chargen, you aren't allowed to break SGs in the skill point allocation phase (pg 88, first paragraph of the second column). So if you took Skills at C (28/2) for instance, you can't take the Cracking SG at 2 and then raise it to 3 by spending three of your 28 SPs. You could raise the Cracking SG to 3 by spending 15 karma on it during Step 7.

Here's my character, still subject to change as I will probably want to tweak a few things, either in the story or the sheet - I'm still not sure about the spell list, an eternal struggle. But since it's so far advanced, I thought I'd share what I got. Oh and it's no mistake: my character has no fake SIN. Fun times ahead



Edit: Made a few changes.

Here is my sheet, I will give more detail to my contacts soon. Might tinker a little with the numbers before we kick off. But this will give you the idea

Priorities:
Skills: B
Resources: A
Attributes: C
Race: D
Magic E

Hey Always Overkill, I didn't read the whole thing but I notice you still have 3 free contact points left unspent (Cha x 3 is 9 in your case). One of the reasons I didn't read it all is because I think it might need some editing. A few line breaks could really go a long way, and your post is really long, might want to wrap it in spoiler tags like so:

@Always Overkill, from my quick glance:

- I count 22 points in knowledge skills, but Logic augmentation doesn't increase your number of knowledge skill points. You should have a total of 18. (p. 95, Column 1, Paragraph 4)
- Wrong on this one. Maths is hard.

ETA: Checked through your gear and stuff. I calculated a total essence cost of 4.35 assuming one of the commlinks was an internal commlink, so your essence would be 1.65. With that said, it doesn't change your Social Limit. All of your gear looked fine, although I think your SCK has two barrel-mounted accessories (gas-vent II and supressor). Assuming you just take the gas-vent II system, I have total spent at 464,800/466,000 nuyen.

Second glance at your sheet: you need to identify a specific matrix action for your Codeslinger PQ.

Maybe I missed it, but I don't see 30 points of NQ - I see 25:

Negative Qualities:
Prejudice (Corporate Mercenaries): +5
Code of Honor (Warriors Code) +15
Allergy: Wild Grass (Uncommon, Mild) +5

Wow, my math is off today. Sorry!

@Chrome

Nicely done - when you are finished with it, can you upload it to the Dropbox?

One change - you having Kevin as your Dependent doesn't increase the cost of the Squatter lifestyle by 10% (Extra Tenant) but rather by 30% as listed in the Qualities section.

Speaking of the dropbox, Jack said he uploaded a PDF version of his character to it earlier today. Does anyone else see it, because I cannot.

So far I've added a map of Denver, and a Word file that contains a link for an updated Google Earth map Jack was kind enough to make, and a folder for characters, which includes my Word file version of Jack.

Kevin is not my dependent per se. Just a guy I help out and who comes crashing once in a while. Sam, the 7-year-old adopted kid, is my dependent. I'll adjust the pricing, I looked at group lifestyle instead, my bad.

Edit: I adjusted my char sheet. Anyone has suggestions for the spell and skill lists?

Sorry about that! I was looking at the character sheet (where Sam isn't mentioned) and assumed - which is stupid, I know - that based on your description that Kevin was your dependent.

I just noticed that the boundaries of downtown are explicitly described in the doc you just uploaded to DropBox. I'll re-draw the box I have to account for that description, I just eyeballed it when I drew it.

Also, if anyone wants to see USAF OPSEC at its finest, go to the Google Map, locate Aurora, and head east. You should find Buckley AFB relatively quickly. If you zoom in on the flight-line a bit, you'll see a plane. If you try to zoon in on the plane, it disappears.

Odd; double post.
-DrZ

Initial cut of my character. Background, contacts still need to be developed. Apologies for any formatting issues (posting from a googledoc, can re-post to the right folder once he's done). There's a note for the GM in his qualities (one of them needs approval).

Henry "Grease" Kemble

Priority A: Skills
Priority B: Resources
Priority C: Attributes
Priority D: Race
Priority E: Magic

Y'all are some low Edge having ramma-jammas.

ETA: Then again, I can only edge like a fifth of my rolls. This should be fun.

Cool character, I don't think I've ever seen anyone do a face/rigger.

I think you have the Face part covered pretty well between the two skill groups, the high CHA, and the bioware.

You're also a pretty solid rigger between the control rig, drones, skills, and vehicles... with one potential weakness. That WIL (2) is a pretty big liability when you have to resist biofeedback damage every time something you're jumped into gets damaged and/or dumpshock.

I'm not sure how to get around that other than swapping Attributes and Resources, but you would have to significantly reduce your purchases.