As for Artificing... definitely taking things very slow on that front (with absolutely no skill, yet). It's something that might be interesting at some point. Or not.

Power Focus... that certainly would be a goal, but surely not for the near future (way too expensive, also). I would aim for something like R4. The big problem with R1-2 is, that you cannot upgrade them further (AFAIK), but have to completely replace them, which makes the low ratings quite undesirable.

Shapechange... this is certainly not a defining spell, not really planning on taking Qualities for it (Taboo Transformer would be pretty thematic for a witch, though), probably won't even use it much, and certainly not for combat (which, I believe, is mainly Bobby's shtick). It's so impractical that you cannot also transform your clothes and stuff (nothing, a good Physical Mask cannot handle, but still). It mostly seemed like a nice way to be able to observe some places without raising suspicions. I'm not attached to it, and can easily replace it, if you prefer.

Control Thoughts... I hear you. I think of it more of a last resort thing, but it is a pretty effective way to stop someone who is hostile, for example. Could also take Control Actions instead, which is a bit less invasive and would fulfill a similar role.

Bye
Thanee

P.S. timezone is same as Jack.

As a teenager, she definitely has been living on the streets, but I might just upgrade that to Low, actually, which makes more sense. She should have been able to get at least some basic stuff after a few years.



Alchemy does not require much, actually. The Lodge is a good point. I was thinking that it is good enough to have access to one via a Contact. Not entirely sure, if you actually need your own for some of the things.

But, yeah, I scribbled all that down fairly quick, so there are bound to be some issues. It's not set in stone or anything.

Bye
Thanee

@Thanee
Questions/feedback on Raven:

1) SIN: What nation is her National SIN for? Given that Raven is a SINner and has a VERY marketable skillset, why hasn't she found work as a wage mage to help meet her Creature of Comfort quality? (I grant that's what she's doing right now, but why didn't she before? Or did she before but she just got fired due to numerous HR violations connected to Seductress, ha ha.)

2) Pacifist: We're not violent by default, and many of our problems are addressable without violence. I appreciate the lack of combat spells in that regard. But how is Raven going to react if she sees Bobby or Mato being violent? (This could be addressed via RP, especially during Raven's interview, but I wanted to plant the seed of the question.)

3) Jack of All Trades: Per the previous "we're not powergaming and we don't need to min/max" I generally ask folks with Jack of All Trades to limit their chargen skills to rating 5. I did this with Mato, who has Jack of All Trades too. Now this isn't a hard-and-fast rule, and if you wanted to skate around it by just taking Jack of All Trades after play begins (since it is inexpensive) then I won't think any less of you, but it's a general guideline that I recommend in the spirit of the game. You could get some of your other skills to Rating 5 this way with the points that are freed up.

4) Control Thoughts: I don't have an OOC issue with Control Thoughts but - as the others have noted - it does have significant IC implications. I often prefer Influence and/or Control Emotions, personally, but it's up to you. Any of these could be a reasonable extension of Pacifist, or a "spell of last resort" as you say. (FYI, the book says that Control Thoughts is more subtle/insidious than Control Actions, which is very overt since the target knows they are being puppeted.)

5) Feel free to take some extra hobby/interest skills if it would help round out Raven's character. Maybe 10 points, perhaps in vices. Pickup Lines 5, hah.

6) Sioux: Let's boost the connection to Sioux society somehow. Captain Razak is in the Sioux Defense Forces and is located somewhere in the Sioux Nation, presumably Cheyenne. Think of him as a handler of off-the-books assets for the Sioux Nation. If you're a Sioux SINner (see #1 above), perhaps you did your mandatory year of military service at age 18 to get off the streets for a year. Although I imagine that would have been semi-traumatic for a pacifist. I want to say that I read something about how the Sioux handle conscientious objectors but now I can't find it. I think there was an option for it but it was looked down on in Sioux society. Plus that would mean you wouldn't be crossing paths with Captain Razak. So let's figure something out there that would work.

Raven could have become a committed pacifist after serving her stint in the SDF. Being exposed up close to the war machine confirming how much she dislikes violence?

Some thoughts:

Since we go for a heavy RP, you'll have to make Raven a person. You have some nice hooks with pacifist, with the Trauma of losing her parents, and perhaps with the magic. Yet, I am not entirely feeling what drives her - what is she after and why she is so poor. I mean, it is one thing to go every night to some club and hook up with someone fun - but to do that to "sleep somewhere nice" (as opposed to sleep with someone fun) suggests something deeper.

Now, the good question is, why is she poor? Being attractive, charismatic, a full mage and a SINNer implies that many places can hire her with a reasonable wage. Comfortable life can be as simple as passing a job interview; why is she doing odd jobs at the edge of society instead of doing a normal job.

Perhaps she acquired some bad habits in the streets, preventing her from having a normal job?
gambling, perhaps a drug/BTL habit that prevents her from having a real job. I am not suggesting making her an addict. Still, she needs a reason to apply to work for a shady detective agency at the edge of society where she would break the law and risk her life (and not at better-paying cooperation).

Another idea is a big debt that keeps her poor or desperate, or perhaps she is hiding from someone which is why she moves from one lover to the next.



Why would Razak think she is a good fit for projecting his influence into Seattle? What makes her a good asset?

I think, I kind of skipped the development from becoming orphaned and ending up on the streets to the present day a bit. As posted above, it totally makes sense that she will have made some money by now (even though, Mages usually cannot afford Resources in CharGen). If I drop Shapechange, I could transform 5 Karma into 10k, which would help to do that, i.e. get at least Lower Lifestyle and a Magical Lodge.



I actually had thought about that one.

Will add that to the background, too.

Bye
Thanee

That would be humerous (I actually remember a story that happened in RL, where a young woman that worked in a bakery, I think, hooked up with a guy during her day shift numerous times, and left the counter empty and customers wondering where anybody is while they were in the back somewhere, until someone discovered them and she got fired promptly), but I also do not want to overdo that part (which is why I havn't picked up Addiction or Compulsion or something like that... she already has the disadvantage from the Mentor Spirit, that should be enough). Typically I had taken a small Day Job (like Waitress or something simple), which is also nice for Shadowrunners to add some credibility to their Fake License, but that Quality wouldn't really work well with the future. But I could, of course, add some odd jobs into her past. Definitely going to upgrade her current Lifestyle to Low, as it makes more sense. Cannot really be higher, since she still needs the motivation to actually get a job. And a more comfortable life would be her main motivation, I think.

As for the nationality. I was just thinking UCAS, since she is from Seattle. But her father would have been a Sioux citizen, so that direction could also work.

And why has no Corp picked her up, yet? My thinking was, that she has not been identified/registered as a mage, yet, when the Crash happened, and so slipped under the radar. By now, it should be listed in her SIN, though, and there might have been offers, but having witnessed the lack of compassion and help from their employers after her parents death, she didn't want to hear their lies and shut them down trying to find her place on her own.

Now, the detecive agency is a different thing, that she can get behind.



She would definitely try to convince them to use other methods first. She understands that the world as a whole is not peaceful at all, and violence happens. She does not like it, but she has to live with it, when it is absolutely necessary (i.e. in self-defense mostly; it's just the "small" Pacifism, after all). It will never be a first choice for her. She does not want to add to it, and maybe even do her part in reducing violence a little.



Hmm... but wouldn't that be only half of it? This addresses the disadvantage of Jack of all Trades, but not the advantage.

I understand where you are coming from, but I don't really see the problem, since SR5 skills are not capped at 6 (they go up to 12). In a long-running game, the spirit still seems very much there.

To be honest, though, I mostly picked it up, because I had just the 2 points left over (and it's pretty useful, obviously, if you want a breadth of skills, which is fairly unaffordable early on).

I can also look for something else with the 2 points.

Actually, going through Run Faster just now, I might just take Solid Rep (Redmond Barrens Residents) or Night Vision (gives her an excuse to wear stylish sunglasses during the day) instead.



I stayed away from Influence, specifically, since AM already has that.

Maybe her mentor spirit does not quite have these moral limits about using such magic (although, I think, Mind Probe is much worse in that regard), and taught her the spell, to keep her safe. And it is upon her now, to use it wisely and with restrain.



I guess, that one is basically included in Con.

But I will give it some thought. Maybe something like Sioux Legends from the stories her father told her as a child.



My idea of how the Captain found her was this:

I wanted to add a Contact, that could be a SDF veteran out of luck, that ended up in a bad spot, like herself. That cliché washed-out military guy with PTSD that is the protagonist of every second action movie. He would know the Captain first-hand, and could have told him about her, as she has made quite an impression on him with her helpful and positive attitude. Mages of her caliber are not that common, obviously, especially those without a proper job. Now the Captain might look down on her for her beliefs, and probably wouldn't want her in his military unit, because he might not be able to rely on her when needed, but this job isn't violent per se and he might be able to see the value of seeing things from a different perspective, too. He's not recruiting for Black Ops after all.

Does that make sense?

Keep in mind, that I only really know the surface of your whole background there at the moment.

Bye
Thanee

Made some changes and additions to add some more coherency. Also removed Astral Combat, which felt out of place to me.

Her combat contributions will be more indirect, with illusions or distractions, and using spirits.

Bye
Thanee

I think we'll be ready to go as soon as we nail down this Sioux / Captain Razak connection more firmly.

For a bit of OOC background, when this game together (four years ago) it was with a new GM on the official forums and I think we all presumed it would be a one-shot. We all came up with Native American characters, by coincidence if I remember correctly. We collectively decided that our fledgling investigative agency would be backed by the Sioux Defense Forces for inscrutable reasons of their own. In truth, we haven't explored this aspect deeply yet. ICly, there's an element of "strangers in a strange land" for all these people who grew up elsewhere but ended up Seattle. Raven would be going against that trend. There's also an assumption that our true loyalties lie with the Sioux Nation rather than Seattle or the UCAS. Captain Razak would want to trust us implicitly. This trust would be difficult to earn for a UCAS citizen, as some of the requests/directives could be potentially be borderline treason. The game hasn't gone in this direction yet, but Captain Razak would want to ensure that everyone is loyal and dependable. The current in-game time is February 2079, but if we make it to 2080 then I imagine using this connection to tie into the events of Free Seattle.

Raven isn't there yet in terms of trustworthiness, at least not as currently written. Now it's possible we could go a different direction and have her "in" be Cutty, a Sioux military vet who set up shop (in a gym) nearby. He could know Raven and know that SIS is in need of a full magician to replace Jawsey. But that would put the hiring decision on AM/Bobby/Mato to potentially bring someone in who hasn't been vetted or approved by Razak. In truth I'm not sure we'd be big fans of that (or at least Mato wouldn't) and it would leave Raven somewhat on the outside of the inner workings of the agency. That might make for interesting RP (as Raven gains our trust), but OOCly makes me wary.

This is an important point for integrating someone into the agency and thus the game so let's figure out what works.

That helps for sure. Let me think about this for a moment, to see how I could make her connection to the Sioux Nation a bit stronger.

Hmm... How about her parents actually did not live in Seattle, but in the Sioux Nation, and they were on a work-related stay in Seattle, when the Crash 2.0 happened, which stranded Raven there. How does that sound? That way, there would be even more incentive for her to connect back with her homeland.

Trust... of course, that is not something that is there immediately. Trust has to be built. But there should be a decent foundation, obviously.

Also, for some reason, I was thinking 2075. So she would have been even younger when the Crash happened (or is a few years older now, probably a bit of both).

Bye
Thanee

Alright, how about this idea than:

Your parents had the connection to Razak - and once he learned about you, he used his connections to get you some support - even though it didn't get you out of Seattle (or Raven didn't want to leave). So instead he cultivated you as a local contact - and sees this as an opportunity to finally give you the support you need while also improving his hold on you.

That is not a bad idea.

Kinda like this?

2063 Family leaves for work-related stuff to live in Seattle for a while
2064 Crash 2.0, parents die, Raven (11) gets lost in the shuffle; Razak sends someone to find her, but they fail to track her down in the chaos, she is presumed dead as well
2064 - 2072 Raven lives on the streets of Seattle, her SIN isn't used, so it is lying dormant in the system
2072 Raven (now 19) finally has the means to get an apartment, which is when her SIN is reconnected to her and updated, and she also gets marked down as awakened
2073 Razak finds out that she lives and tracks her down in Seattle, which is a lot easier now, she learns about his connection to her father, he helps her to get on her feet
2079 Now, looking for a mage, Razak makes Raven an offer

Bye
Thanee

Just some ideas to see if something sticks.

We could make Raven one of Razak's assets. He could have used her to get his way for a while, because she always tends to need more money. (and then it all goes on expensive clothes?) Perhaps she has done (directly or indirectly) jobs for him. Many things that I can imagine her doing in a heartbeat. From seducing people for leverage, gathering intel, and doing the legwork. I can even imagine her doing a drek job, like stashing people in her crummy apartment and staying away for several days (going to a party and returning to another home).

Perhaps Jawsey was recruited Razak needed a seducer. Raven has proven herself in the past and is very good at getting her way with people. Perhaps Jawsey's sudden departure leaves some plan set in motion broken, so Razak ships us Raven to try and salvage that situation.

As far as SIN is concerned, even if she has one, Raven may feel no special loyalties because of the feeling of betrayal by her old life and social status.

P.S was posting in parallel to Thanee. I think we are making good progress.

We're definitely on the right track.

I like all of these ideas. I can definitely imagine Razak having many fingers in the pie or pots on the stove, whatever metaphor you want to use. Maybe he realizes that SIS didn't need Raven until this point - or perhaps Raven was more valuable as an individual asset - but recognizes that the situation has changed, either due to Jawsey's departure or Raven's personal situation.

(I haven't read Free Seattle yet but I imagine Razak moving pieces around the board getting ready for such a potential disruption to capitalize on. Either that or just to tweak the nose of the UCAS in general.)

The only tweak I would suggest is to not have Raven be presumed dead, only missing. Being presumed dead will deactivate the SIN. Maybe there were hints that Raven was alive but not enough clues to track her down. Perhaps Razak even had to jump through some hoops in order to make sure the SIN wasn't deactivated so that he would be alerted once she was back online, so to speak.

One does wonder how old Razak is and how long he's been a captain. We gotta get him a promotion!

I'll work on an introductory post.

Updated her sheet. Now I only need to fill in those Contacts, I think.

Bye
Thanee

First Tamarind IC up. I held off at her heading over, to give the others a chance to post before she is knocking at the door.

For what it's worth, this is true:


I've only been to Denver once but it was in the winter and the temperature was -7C. But it was so dry that it felt warmer than +7C in Seattle. I think I walked around with a sweater, maybe a sports jacket, but no parka. -7C felt like nothing in Denver.

We seasonally go through both damp-and-near-freezing and cold-and-dry here. And yes, way easier to be comfortable in January than in November.

Not that a body 6 drone that can travel at expressway speeds and rip open vehicles is apt to care about the damp, but this is Tamarind for you.

Are Tamarind and Raven arriving at the same time to SIS? or will we do some time split?

I suppose it is a bit easier, if we are there at roughly the same time, so you do not have to say everything twice.

Bye
Thanee

Alrighty then, I'll really enjoy doing that to AM;)

@Jack Bobby could not have been a raven for a month because we are just a week after the previous interlude, but having him Raven for a week is sure worth some response AM, (I am almost sorry that I did not work on my IC after you wrote it it is just so strange/awesome).

@Gilga. I've been pronouncing AM in my head as "Ay-Emm" (saying each letter) . Does your IC mean you pronounce it "Em" ?

@Jack_Spade that is fantastic!, I love that explanation for how he leans masking

Yes, like the name of the letter M.

Edited the time in my previous post. I was under the impression that we'd have the full month necessary for the initiation.

We'll have the full month between this interlude and the next chapter.

I have two reports due tomorrow so I'm scrambling a bit. Should be able to get something up later this afternoon or tonight.

And, for the record, gilga has told it in the past that it's "M" but I always pronounce it "A-M" in my head when I'm reading posts.

For Thanee's benefit, let's try to remember to give physical descriptions of ourselves and other things we might be taking for granted after playing together four years. (Game anniversary is at the end of August, a month from now.)

My idea was that M is short for Amy, and also for Maka, but online she'll write it AM, for both names.

Thank you!

Bye
Thanee

Jack, sorry I lost track of the Armorer question. I'll try to loop back to it.

Yeah, RP is flowing fast and furious. I woke up in the morning to a ton of content to consume and (eventually) reply to. Our rhythms may be different now with a new (and active) poster.

I'm also on vacation (staycation) this week, so more opportunities to reply. Nice timing with the new interlude.

NBD, I assumed it was her personality to get lost in some other details

@Beta, Raven is human (not elf), and the three ladies are approximately the same height. (160 for AM and Raven and 157 for Tamarind). Raven is likely a bit higher because she is wearing heels. (AM is in her slippers).

So she is technically the shortest woman,

character personality .... player personality .... one or both




Speaking of missing some details while looking at others, yikes! I'll go edit my IC.

=================
ETA:
A couple of character sheet tweaks
- added the 10 points of professional skills mentioned earlier and some light tweaking of other knowledge skills
- realized I didn't have a contact for the 'in debt' quality, so replaced her mechanic with a low level mafia, who handles extorting money from freelance food delivery operations working in 'downtown' Seattle ('Small' Antonio)
- finally figured out why one of her Flying Eyes was 'Uncle' and the rest were 'the Aunties' -- added a rating 6 ultrasound sensor to Uncle (and knocked 600nY off her remaining nuyen)

ETA2:
Just a by-the-way, while she has knowledge Literature (pre-awakening juvenile fantasy) I don't figure she'd be familiar with Blade Runner nor Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

Right, gonna have to add those Knowledge Skills, too. Maybe I can think of something else, that would make sense...

Bye
Thanee

Beta, I teed something up for Tamarind at the end of Mato's post, in case you missed it.

My last Tamarind post was written over quite some time on my phone, getting back to it whenever I had another few minutes. I hadn't seen the Mato post when I got going with it, and by the time I did I didn't want to edit all that I'd built up. I'll make sure to respond in my next one.

Just double-checking!

@BTW - It is daytime right? I mean in my mind it gets perhaps a bit too dark to read, but there is still light coming from the windows.
What do you think?

I put the time (and date) in the first IC post. It's a Tuesday morning. The precise time isn't set, but I imagine somewhere in the 10:00 range, give or take. Early enough to be drinking tea and soykaf. The weather is grey and cloudy so there will be light coming in through the windows but not bright sunlight. A flashlight probably isn't necessary. Mato, AM, and Tamarind (with her vision mods) would not need additional light to read or see well, nor anyone who has low-light vision in their contacts or glasses.

It happened again -- I only saw Tecumseh's new IC after I'd posted IC and OOC, and this time his and mine directly conflicted. I have deleted both postst. I have to get off the computer now but will re-write later when I get a chance.

The one part worth still mentioning: Tamarind has minimal technical skills. In the re-write to fit starting character level I dropped essentially all of those. Engineering skill group 1 is all that is left. Granted, that should be enough to reset a circuit breaker. But just to mention that she won't be dazzling anyone with her technical skills (and she'll be leaning on Stitch (mechanic's helper drone) for drone repair)

Yes, well aware that Tamarind only has Engineering 1, but that's one point better than the rest if us on skills that are not technically debatable.

Previously blanked IC now re-written.

@Tecumseh I was just making sure because multiple versions can trick memory. At least I have to keep checking back to remember what she actually ended up with.

Well I wrote a post with Raven's Spanish being a key element only to double-check and find out that it wasn't Spanish anymore.

Oh! Sorry! That was a mistake in the original sheet. Was meant to be Sperethiel all along (learned from her mother). Spanish would have been out of place.

In today's world, she probably could have picked it up on the streets, but in Shadowrun's Seattle the language does not seem to be used that much. Or am I mistaken here?

Bye
Thanee

Oh, I think you could make the argument that you could pick up just about any language in Sixth World Seattle by tweaking your background to adjust who you're hanging out with. Japanese is probably common due to the megacorps. Earlier editions made a bigger deal out of Cityspeak bring its own language, which was a pidgin of English, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish, etc.

In present day Seattle, Spanish is quite common. Mandarin is a distant third with Vietnamese, Tagalog, and Russian not far behind. Pacific Rim, basically, which isn't that much of a surprise.

I havn't used those 10 Knowledge ranks, yet, since I couldn't think of anything fitting.

Maybe just adding some languages that are used on the streets of Redmond could make sense...

Could take some ranks in Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish (to get that back in ).

Bye
Thanee

Correction: evidently Mato also has Industrial Mechanic 1. Who knew? Not me, the player, evidently.

Added those 10 ranks mostly in languages now, that Raven would have picked up in conversations with her fellow Redmond squatters and residents.

Bye
Thanee