This is the official Recruitment Thread for the latest installment of my Deep Black Sea run series.

For those curious about the previous installments:

Deep Black Sea
Pain and Gain
Sins of the Fathers
Panzerknacker

Thanks to the usual attrition of forum rpg, we once again have slots to fill



The cast contains so far:

Volker as.........bnc, the human hacker
SquirrelDude as...Hans N Francis, the dwarven wrestler
gilga as..........Anna, the human mage

Interested players so far:

Luckace (currently with the account of SgtBoomCloud) as a human mercenary
eryrwyn (from the other forum shadowruntabletop.com) as an illusion centered mage

In addition I'll open up two more slots for potential interested players.



Story location:

The game will start in the area around Munich and soon turn towards Austria

Character generation:

Sumto10 with 60 bonus Karma (can be freely converted to Nuyen)

or

Prime Runner Sumto14 (max. one initiation)

Posting rules:

Only apply if you have the time to actually play the game with regular postings - I mean it. Think ahead to the coming events in your life and ask yourself if you can take on the responsibility to post during the week at least once a day.

Build a character that wants to go on runs and risk his life - I fucking hate to have to come up with reasons to get you into the story.

Be prepared to endure some pretty heavy IP conflicts - you are plunging into an established group with some pretty messed up characters.

I know the rules and I don't mind teaching them to beginners, but I expect you to make an effort to understand what your character can do and what not.

Would there be room for a Gunslinger Adept?

Yes, but I have to ask you:
Do you really have the commitment necessary? I witnessed you vanishing from games on two separate occassions. I understand that RL has to come first, but are you absolutely, positively able to say that you will be able to commit to this game for the next half year?

Dude I only left my rp with Adamu because I had basic training. Prior I posted almost everyday he responded.

Oh right, so three occassions.

Ha. I can do it. Ok? Once a day is easy.

Alright, just wanted to make sure we understand each other

So do I get extra Karma in character creation if I go Prime Runner Sum to Ten?

You either go Prime Runner Sumto14 with the usual rules (35 starting karma, increased money) - or you make a normal sumto10 character and gain 60 Karma after chargen ends.

So I can start with Athlete's Way and with the initiation power from it? Oh my "gifted" amatuer archtype is about to come full swing.

Edit: Nope. Misread. But Athletes way still is a good gain.

Greetings, everyone. Hereby reporting for duty.

My character is finally complete (with Prime Runner sumto14): He's a mage (Christian Theurgist) and a local (Upper Austria). His specialties are spirits, detection and manipulation spells and he's decently socially skilled. The dude is meant to be an all-rounder, so he'll be able drive a car, survive a night outdoors, wield a gun, collect reagents... Stuff like that to get him by on his own, if necessary.
But... I assume it would be a bit early to post a character sheet.

Are you guys planning on having an IP casting-like recruiting, like you did in that other run?

Not this time. You'll see (and get a briefing) why everyone finds together

I have a text based sheet. Can I post it here?

I'll open the OOC post next Saturday. If you want you can send me your characters per PM so I can give you feedback. (Please make sure to mark how you spend the priorities and karma)

@RaiderJ....

are you planning on using Vexboy on this run?

If so, and if Jack approves, it should be easy enough to come up with a reason for you to go to Germany that fits the current storyline...real run vastly more interesting for you than sitting around with a bunch of cat people doing training stuff....

Wait is this connected to our rp? I thought it was seperate. In that case. I may pass or use another character.

I really don't know if they are or can be connected.
That's why I said "if Jack approves".

But you said gunslinger adept, which is how you've characterized Vexboy, so I wondered is all.

Short story is - if you and Jack want to use Vexboy, I can cooperate.
If you don't, that's cool too.

Let's just say, there is crossover potential.
Kynos made an appearance recently and he is also a denizen of Stormy Waters.

I have zero problem with letting an established character in, provided the power level is not too disparat

Hm... I might...use Jessica. Vexboy's badass detective older sister.

Uhm ... I'm just realizing that bnc is going to be the only non-Awakened character. I mean, I have absolutely no problem with mages, but after we have already one mage in the group and another fix starter (luckace/SgtBoomCloud) who's connected to the story, when there's also eryrwyn with a mage and Raiderj with an adept ... isn't that going to be a bit much magic? Aren't Awakened character supposed to be rare?
Just saying...

Jessica is...a detective. She was a vatjob grown by her own father to succeed his legacy as a master security agent. She uses cyber and bioware mostly and doesn't show strong emotions but prefers to open up to those shes comfortable around. And...uh...oh shes a fucking prodigy. Sherlock Holmes tier with Monk's and Psyche's ability to spot minor detail.

Technically my character isn't done(there's a concept but I keep struggling to put it on paper, especially when Chummer won't let me fucking complete an initiation in character creation). The issue is that you just don't get enough money, even from prime runner generation to be able to afford proper kits of cyberware/bioware. At most you get 450k nuyen. Yes I could pay 5 essence and 217,000 nuyen for +3 Reaction and +3d6 to my initiative. Or I could pay 3.5 power points. The only real way to do it is with a synaptic booster rating 3 which costs, at minimum 285k nuyen and 1.5 essence. You're already at less money than being a full adept and D resources. Adepts need less gear to start with (gun, armor, comm, licenses, car, house, done), and can transform all the excess cash strait into more karma for adept powers.

Honestly, who on the design team looked at wired reflexes and improved reflexes and thought they were even remotely equivalent costs?

I don't mind having lots of mages around. You are going to Austria and there are quite a lot of anti-mages on the free market since the Ulanen regiment was dissolved

Well, it depends on your expectations out of combat really. If you are expecting a 3rd pass I'd do it without uber expensive gear.

6 intuition + 2 cereberlium booster = 8
5 reaction + 3 reaction enhancers = 8
+ reaction optimization bioware (+1 initiative).
Boosted reflexes (just 10k and get them the best grade you can, to save essence). (+1d6)
now you are at 17 dice to dodge and you also have 17 +2d6
This is almost equivalent with the adept's combination of reflexes and combat senses- but much lighter on the budget and more versatile. Think exceptional ability/genetic optimization if you want to invest more and guarantee a 3rd pass and massive dodge pool.

Augmentations also do things that adept powers do not do very well... Think sleep regulator and pain editor, and titanium bones, augmented stats are much more reliable with Bioware than they are with magic.... and if you really want to guarantee a 3rd pass look into genetic optimization and or exceptional attribute, to get say (10) intuition and 19+2d6 regular initiative... add another d6 if you want to use cram which is not very addictive.

What would be good Bioware for a detective?

I see this. I accept that it's correct, and realize that I should take another look and be more creative. However, the dominating thought after seeing that kind of stuff is, "Shadowrun 5e's rules are over-complicated trash." As someone who definitely isn't a afraid of working through complicated character building options, building a character is making me not want to play the game at the moment.

Yes, the rules are a mess - sorry to read that you feel so strongly about it and I hope that you change your mind about playing with us.

That sounds pretty much like the char I'm playing.



It's not so much about balancing ... It's just a feeling of ... not really playing shadowrun. Shadowrun is not D&D where there's spellslingers and hobbits behind every corner but it's a mostly mundane cyberpunkt world with an edge of mana in the dark and twisted back alleys of the Sixth World to make it even creepier. If bnc is among two adepts and three mages, I feel special being mundane. And that's a very strange thought for a Shadowrun player.

@Slobbertooth
I see it a tad differently, though I understand your feeling. But see it this way: It's like walking through a huge WallMart store with Smurf-flavored cookies, assault guns and edible underwear on the same floor, while your neighbor shops at some small but nice grocery store around the corner. Yep, adept powers are simple and powerful, but with a chromed-up character there's just so much stuff you can do! You can add radar systems to your sensorical array, keep drug injectors inside that pump you up with fierce battle drugs (the way bnc did, only with other substances), and if you don't care you can add fins and tails to your char to make him be a superhuman versatile killing machine that can cover almost any condition without regard of how much and what you can see or hear and where you have to move. In cyberlimbs, you can cover weapons and climbing tools alike. You can even have your character be able to do frigging fotosynthesis!
What I love to do is shape a very rough idea - say, a troll tank, or a half-human nocturnal raptor, or an impossible-to-spot ninja assassin - then browse through Chrome Flesh and the Corebook and just write down everything that sounds nice. Then I pick those I think are awesome, and voilà, it wasn't tedious work but a fun shopping tour!

@Jack is there some info about Austria in SR to read? When you say anti mages you mean that people are biased against magic? (or to some people that hunt mages for cooperations and such?, or to make an example of?).... Using magic in public get a negative social response... or are we talking about bounty hunters to knock you out and sell you to "slavery"..., or publically execute you... What kind of atmosphere are you aiming for?

I wouldn't read a lot about Austria if I were you. Anna doesn't now a thing about that country, so why should you know more? I think, roleplaying is more interesting if anything surprising to your character is surprising to you, too.
Antimages possess powers to counter magic, simple as that.

What are they? awakened that only know counterspelling?

Well shit... Fuck it. Ill upgrade one of Vexboys contacts. I wrote a bit about her in my own musings. Drillbit. Made her into a technomancer who has a side job finding old pieces of 5th world fiction and selling it to people. Kinda like a pirating archeologist. Would that be an ok character?

I guess ... but you do realize that we already have a decker, don't you?

I also don't mind another genius on board. bnc's not a detective, but also an augmented prodigy. She's more of a decker/rigger, though, so I don't think your detective character and bnc would get into each others way. So, I guess she'd fit in better than a technomancer would, as this would indeed be a doubling of abilities. bnc, for example, lacks any non-nerd knowledge skills, most street skills and most social skills. It was more of a "funny, 5 mages and 2 brains in one group" remark rather then a "don't you dare enter my domain" remark.

In that case I guess I will use Jessica.

Fun fact about counterspelling: You don't need a high magic attribute to be really, really good at it.
Don't ever underestimate what a guy with assensing, counterspelling and a high powered automatic weapon can do...

I don't... the new Yael would increase counter spelling to 7 and take (with your approval ofc) the arcane bodyguard quality... so my plan is for Yael to be one of these. (but with a pistol rather than an automatic weapon)...

I don't have a problem with it, but you should be aware, that you'll severely reduce the number of dice you can use to protect yourself: 7 dice turn into 14, but you can use max. only 1/3 to defend yourself, leaving only 4 dice for you.

Yes, I know... need to be unselfish to protect the team.
Does the quality also double shielding initiation and foci though? If not does the restriction also applies to dice from these sources? (I wish they'd write these more clearly).

It says spell defense dice not counterspell dice, so yes, shielding and foci do count

But be aware that this quality does nothing for dispelling tests

Yes, strangely enough, a power focus seems more efficient for dispelling than a counterspell focus (that can only help with spells of a certain aspect).

Erm, I know, it's late, but there might be another player whom I know personally. She hasn't yet made up her mind, but is there still a slot flee in theory?

I have a hard time picking her cyberware. For some reason being away has turned my brain into spagetti for cyberware.

@Volker

Sure, theoretically she can get in even after the run is already in motion.

@Raiderj
Ask yourself what do you want to acomplish instead of what would be neat to have. That usually clears up that kind of stuff

@Jack what is the stats of the weapon foci knife?

It's a sapphire knife (although it's not saphire but obsidian) from HT p.179 with a custom grip

and the custom grip is for somebody else right? (so -1 to all actions with it?) can it be readjusted ?

Sure, just add a new grip.

For your information: I'll start the game officially next Monday. Please get your chars ready until then and post them in the OCC.

Also, to all the other mentioned, potential players: You can still get in later, but please give me a definitive yay or ney on your participation, so I can plan accordingly.

save for the drones (still questions open) bnc is online!

as for the other player: She's definitely interested but has never played Shadowrun before. So she thinks it'll take her some time to read and stuff. So she thinks she would like to join (definitive yes or no in 2 days or so), but definitely not at this point. Maybe in 2 or 3 months. The transition to Austria, e.g., might be a good entry point. Current plan is a non-magical kind of stealth character, likely elf, maybe changeling (cat), cybered-up. Sneaky, shooty, elegant, but maybe not nice to behold

After a lot of thinking, she decided that she'd prefer a RL group to a pbp one, although the choice wasn't easy. So I guess, we can start whenever you're ready.

Unfortunately, I will definitely not be able to post between SUN, July 29 and SUN, AUG 5. Depending on how it starts, I can either join two weeks later than the rest of the lot, or Jack roleplays bnc in the meanwhile, or she'll go to the bathroom in the meanwhile or so. A week is not much in pbp terms.