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Tecumseh
Here’s what we currently know about our neighborhood: https://stormy-waters-2075.obsidianportal.c...is/touristville

Here’s our shared lifestyle: https://stormy-waters-2075.obsidianportal.c...gative-services

Chapter 1: Sunday, September 18, 2078
Chapter 2: Monday, September 26, 2078
First Interlude: Saturday, October 1, 2078
Chapter 3: Monday, October 10, 2078
Second Interlude: Sunday, October 16, 2078
Chapter 4: Sunday, November 6, 2078
Third Interlude: Wednesday, November 23, 2078
Chapter 5: Thursday, November 24, 2078
Fourth Interlude: Sunday, November 27, 2078
Chapter 6: Thursday, December 22, 2078
Fifth Interlude: Sunday, January 1, 2079
Chapter 7: Friday, January 20, 2079
Sixth Interlude: Wednesday, February 1, 2079
Chapter 8: Sunday, February 5, 2079
Seventh Interlude: Wednesday, February 8, 2079
Eighth Interlude: Tuesday, February 14, 2079
Tecumseh
I think I'm going to have things start out with a call from Razak.

@Beta, Tamarind's sheet says, "Her military service let her pursue her interest in vehicles and drones, and when she left there she provided ground support to various smuggling enterprises for years, initially in the Sioux, then in the Front Range Free Zone. Now in Seattle she is still looking for steady work." [emphasis added]

This is convenient because The Complete Trog (p. 53-56) talks about Ghostwalker evicting everyone from the UCAS, CAS, PCC, and Sioux Nation in February 2079 unless they swear fealty to him. (The Shadowrun wiki gives this date as February 10, 2079, which would be the night of the dinner party.) So I'm thinking about making Tamarind an exile from the FRFZ who ends up in Seattle. How does that sound?
Thanee
Hey guys!

Just popping in to see if you are interested in adding another player into the fold. smile.gif

Bye
Thanee
Beta
First: Tamarind's google sheet, which is more or less readable, is at this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-T3...dit?usp=sharing

I've not got the Obsidian Portal sheet updated yet.

She still has a bit over 30k nuyen and about 170 karma to spend, but it doesn't necessarily all need to be spent right now, some could be saved. (and some of the karma is going into edge and charisma, I just haven't put that in yet). I have applied all of the bonus knowledge skills and so on, other than that I've not chosen a martial art yet. Anyone know one that would make it easier to land a touch attack with shock gloves?

===================================

As for her time in the 'Front Range Free Zone', in her 'extended background' it talks about how her body was picked up while she was in VR, and she spent quite a bit of time in a Denver prison on suspicion of being a Sioux spy, before eventually being released for telling all that she knew about the smuggling operation. This is currently somewhat important to her story, as it is the source of two of her negative qualities:
-'big regret' --she broke the informal code of not talking to the man, probably resulting in the arrest of other smugglers, so she has a hard time facing anyone from her time with smuggling groups
- AVRSE (won't go into VR unless body is very safe) -- due to having been captured while in VR the one time

And I've given her a bunch of Seattle street skills from her supposed time in Seattle.

ON THE OTHER HAND, that timing is a wonderful coincidence, so I want to make it happen! I'll just need a day to re-think her negative qualities and what different knowledge skills to take.

Perhaps her betrayal of others was in the Sioux? Could be the same qualities from an earlier capture.
Gilga
@Thanee since there is no clear hierarchy in this game. We'll get to you soon.

@Beta, Tecumseh Always exciting how things connect.
Gilga
.
Jack_Spade
@Thanee

As you see, this is a very long running game with lots of build history - so getting into the story as a player isn't the easiest thing to do.
For my part, I'm always open for a try, but be aware that I (and likely we) expect the same commitment from all participants. That means continuous, long-term posting and regular stints of GMing (to do that successfully you also probably should read some of the previous chapters)

If that is something you want to commit to I for my part would welcome you.
Thanee
Hey!

Yeah, obviously, you have been at this for a while now. smile.gif

I'm always in for the long run, and I love long-running games with actual development.

I'm also certainly capable of GMing here and there, and have run whole SR campaigns in the past, though never with SR5 (not that that is much of a difference). smile.gif

Bye
Thanee
Beta
Hi Thanee, we are huddling off-thread sorting out how we'd want to do this. A few points that we are agreed upon, to help you think about how this would work for you, are:

- The game is not about "Shadow Runners". We are partners in a small private detective agency based out of Touristville, Redmond (with a spook from the Sioux as our silent partner). We are certainly on the shadowy edge of society, but many of our clients have been regular citizens.
- All the characters* have a connection to the Sioux council and have native backgrounds
- The game started with a focus around the 6th World Tarot -- recent adventures have explored other topics more, but they'll be baaaack
* I just said good-bye to my original character and had just about finished the final math on the replacement. My original was born in Tsimshian but spent a bit of time in the Sioux Council, my new character is, like the other three, born in the Sioux Council. Exactly how this transition plays out in terms of the partnership we were about to play out.


A couple of points that have made the game a bit off kilter from the typical:
1) the original GM (who had to depart after two runs) had his own set of house rules. I captured them in google docs. We are discussing to what degree they need to be maintained, but I figured it doesn't hurt to let you look at them and see what you think.
- General House Rules: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Slr1ojz...rue&sd=true
- Magic House Rules: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ceehS4h...rue&sd=true
- Technomancer House Rules: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nuy6yM8...rue&sd=true
- Contacts: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ve8IrPa...rue&sd=true

2) for whatever reasons, all of us did something a bit different than the standard stereotypes when we made our characters. My original character was mostly an astral duellist (who happened to be charming and had some very weak magic), Gilga's character is an aspected caster/decker, Tecumseh's is seeking better living through cyber-enhancements (a small and sickly orc now pumped up with cyber-limbs), Jack_Spade's is an adept who makes devastating use of the the ShapeChange spell and associated qualities. My new character is a drone user who does not have a control rig and is adverse to using virtual reality. It would not be a requirement that your character also be off-angle from the usual archetype, but it would be something to consider.
Tecumseh
Sioux Nation, just to clarify. (As opposed to being from the Salish-Shidhe Council.)

~~~

Beta, I don't think that we need to scrap Tamarind's background. She could have been making Seattle-Denver smuggling runs ("The Big Dance" in rigger parlance) which would explain the familiarity with Seattle.

She got caught in Denver and has been doing time there. But when Ghostwalker wants to evict folks, he doesn't necessarily want to the expense of keeping his prisons full. So Tamarind is paroled on the condition that she doesn't come back.
Thanee
Thank you! smile.gif

I will have to read up a bit to get a fitting character idea, of course. But I'm sure I can come up with something.

@Beta: Those links don't work. Looks like you copied the shortened display links (with the ... in there), instead of the full links. smile.gif

Bye
Thanee
Tecumseh
Ha! He did indeed. Try these:

- General House Rules: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Slr1ojz...rue&sd=true
- Magic House Rules: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ceehS4h...rue&sd=true
- Technomancer House Rules: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nuy6yM8...rue&sd=true
- Contacts: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ve8IrPa...rue&sd=true

We're coming up on our fourth anniversary (at the end of August) and are on our third PbP site.

We're not powergaming. We're mostly in the gutters with the gangers, but there are a couple dragons in the background. There's been a fair amount of collaborative world-building. I'm trying to stay close to canon personally but, as always, the GM is in charge. It's a sandbox environment with a world that reacts to the PCs' actions. Chapter 8, for example, was fairly experimental in the sense that there was no mission; there was a specific event and then the PCs responded to it as they saw fit. I wouldn't try that with a group of strangers but it worked for us (in my opinion, at least) since we had an established track record both with the PCs and the players.

Lots of RP. Whole chapters go by without combat. Think about options that will have plenty to do during downtime, or dice to roll outside of combat.

To recap the current roles:

Jack: Adept shapeshifter
Beta: Drone rigger user
gilga: Sorcerer/Decker
Tec: Cyberlimbed mundane

That's a pretty complete team when we're all together, but for the most part we're not all together since one of us is GMing at any given time. In other words, there's probably flexibility to play what you want since we're used to both 1) overlap and 2) someone being missing at any given time.
Beta
"Drone User" maybe, since "Rigger" kind of implies having a control rig. Tamarind is all Direct command and use of the swarm program. (Having 'recently' played a decker, an astral duellist, and a technomancer, I absolutely wanted this character to stay in one world. No more limp noodle bodies!)

And sorry about the links -- I copied them from another place that I'd pasted them, without looking at how they came through, sorry.
Thanee
QUOTE (Beta @ Jul 21 2022, 01:45 AM) *
And sorry about the links -- I copied them from another place that I'd pasted them, without looking at how they came through, sorry.


No worries! smile.gif


How do you do new characters Karma/Resource-wise?

Bye
Thanee
Tecumseh
Hi again.

We've been discussing that in the background. Part of the challenge is that we have four GMs so everyone is in charge smile.gif

We'd like to extend an invitation to join the game. The goal is to create someone who would fit in at an investigative agency in Seattle (that has secret ties to the Sioux Nation).

1) Chargen is Sum-to-10. I have a personal preference for only one Priority A but this isn't a firm rule.
2) A free Contact of Captain Razak of the Sioux Defence Force at Connection 4, Loyalty 1. You can buy his Loyalty up to L3 if you like. He will be your hook into the group.
3) Up to 20 bonus karma for completing the 20 Questions or some version of a background that accomplishes the same. (There are a few different versions of the 20 Qs. The precise ones you pick aren't terribly important.)

We all created our characters using the House Rules that were posted earlier so please treat those as the default. In some cases they are more generous than the baseline rules (e.g. Arcana is now a knowledge skill, Adept Ways are less expensive) and in some cases they are more restrictive (e.g. no Ares Alphas, spirit types must be learned separately). Occasionally they are flexible. For example, if you prefer the standard Firearms skill group skills (Pistols, Automatics, Longarms) to the modified ones (Small Arms, Long Arms, Heavy Weapons) then that's something we can discuss. If you have questions, feel free to ask.

Min-maxing isn't necessary. When it's done we'll likely round out the character with some additional professional skills or hobby/interest skills for fun and flavor. You'll earn accelerated karma awards as we play so keep in mind how you would like to progress over time.

We'll try to introduce both your new character and Beta's new character (Tamarind) during the Eighth Interlude. Captain Razak will be providing referrals to the agency to help backfill the departure of Jawsey (Beta's previous character).
Thanee
QUOTE (Tecumseh @ Jul 21 2022, 09:27 PM) *
We've been discussing that in the background. Part of the challenge is that we have four GMs so everyone is in charge smile.gif


Of course.

QUOTE
We'd like to extend an invitation to join the game. The goal is to create someone who would fit in at an investigative agency in Seattle (that has secret ties to the Sioux Nation).


Thank you! I will see what I can come up with. smile.gif

QUOTE
We all created our characters using the House Rules that were posted earlier so please treat those as the default.


Still have to read all of those to the end, only skimmed through so far. Some of the texts seem like summaries of the rules or general chargen explanations, so it is a bit tricky to find the actual house rules there.

QUOTE
We'll try to introduce both your new character and Beta's new character (Tamarind) during the Eighth Interlude. Captain Razak will be providing referrals to the agency to help backfill the departure of Jawsey (Beta's previous character).


Sounds good!

Bye
Thanee
Beta
At a really high level, some of the house rules in terms of how probable they are to impact your character creation:
- you get some bonus contacts See the contacts house rule file (basically a list of C4 contacts of various types, you get 3-5 loyalty points that you can spread among them as you wish)
- there is a bit of skill consolidation/re-organization (you can probably use whatever character maker/spreadsheet that you have around, and just re-map this at the end. Mostly matters is you were taking multiple gun or multiple melee skills)
- more knowledge skill points (logic+intuition)x3
- fake IDs cost 2000/level instead of 2500
- as mentioned, for magicians spirits have to be bought like spells are (still very worth it)
- priority table for magic is changed, and some different rules for conjuring and mystic adepts (and a few other minor changes) -- read before deciding to depend on spirits or building a mystic adept
- Technomancers get a substantial overhaul, likely making them a lot more playable. Read if being a techno interests you.
Thanee
Thank you! That is very helpful. smile.gif

QUOTE
- Technomancers get a substantial overhaul, likely making them a lot more playable. Read if being a techno interests you.


That is one thing I am very certain, it's not gonna be. I have literally no clue about Technomancers in SR5, that would take forever. biggrin.gif

Definitely leaning towards Magic here (also, because my one other character on here is a cybered mundane; Gilga and Jack both know her).

Maybe something with Alchemy.

I also like charismatic characters in general, and social skills.

Bye
Thanee
Beta
@Thanee the team just lost a charismatic magic character with social skills (my former character the astral duellist with some weak magic), so this would be an obvious niche for them to recruit to fill. And of course in a detective based game, social skills play a key roll.

They even have a shamanic lodge and an initiatory group. .

ETA: if you will be using alchemy and spells, do look at the alchemy section. There is something in there about reduced karma cost for learning spells in the second style once you already know it in the other (i.e if you have Heal as a sorcery spell you don't need a new formula to learn it as an alchemy spell and the karma cost is lower). I don't think straight enchanters get anything different, other than the revised magic priority table.

++++++++++++++++++

An interim update on Tamarind's spreadsheet to match the parameters we agreed on is here.

Still have several thousand nuyen to spend, and one change I'm still mulling is ditching most of her perception skill and having her rely on using electronic warfare skill through her drones for perception. I'll decide for sure on the weekend and then get her character sheet updated on Obsidian Portal. I've updated her background to align with the timeline we agreed on for her, taking her to the moment that she calls up Captain Razak and says she'd come back to Seattle and refuses to return to Ghostwalker's territories, and to her surprise instead of being made he says that he might have a different job for her.
Beta
Tamarind updated on Obsidian Portal (both character sheet and background) https://brexbasicbackups.obsidianportal.com...acters/tamarind. Some sheet re-organization will be coming, but I think I have all of the pieces there now.

May yet do some minor tweaks tomorrow (still have a bit of money left, still considering moving perception to almost purely through drones and move a bit of skill points and money into something else, I'm just not sure what the something else is yet.)
Tecumseh
Thanee, how much time do you think you need for an initial draft?

Beta, can we get professions for Fagin and Livewire? Are all the Contacts in the Seattle Metroplex?

If you have plenty of cash, do you still want In Debt? Setting aside some nuyen for a kit/shop for the drones is probably a good idea too.
Thanee
I will see how far I can get tonight. I should have some characters, that I can base this off, which should make things a bit easier. smile.gif

Bye
Thanee
Beta
@Tecumseh Fagin and Livewire are two of the free contacts in the house rules (contacts file). Fagin is essentially a delivery service for lower availability rating gear. Livewire is more-or-less the designated hacker contact in that set of contacts (there wasn't a rigger one).

Her drone Stitch (a Proletariat mechanic's helper) comes with an automotive kit, I'll make sure to note that. And she did buy another kit, I may have missed getting that into OP, I'll check. I figured she wouldn't have a shop, having just left the FRFZ with what fits in her van.

She also only has engineering at 1, but Stitch has pilot 4 and an R4 autosoft and Toothless has pilot 4 / autosoft R1 (and some lifting /bending/holding ability) so they can teamwork onto Stitch.

There are good uses for the remaining nuyen. I. Just hit analysis paralysis so figured I should make use of the time to get her character sheet put together. It could be a secondary RCC to leave a swarm doing a secondary task, some extra drones to fill out swarms, upgraded autosoft, or a bit more stuff to enable secondary hacking. or if I de-focus perception and get rid of related 'ware then it is enough to do something more substantial, but I don't know if I feel that ambitious.

Gilga
If I recall correctly Fagin is the hyperactive elf courier that delivered us the drugs we needed for Huge.
Thanee
One thing I am a little unsure of... how many points can be spent for Positive Qualities in total? 25? Or is that before any extra Karma investions from the free Karma (i.e. 25 + 20 for the 20Q)?

Are the Mastery Qualities from Forbidden Arcana included in that limit? IIRC, there was some useful stuff for Alchemy there. smile.gif

Bye
Thanee
Beta
@Thanee My reading is that the Forbidden Arcana talents need to fit into the 25. Not sure how others have read it. I think I'd allow those 20 bonus karma to be used for additional qualities, but at 'in play' rates (i.e. double cost).

Master Alchemist is a nice one, as it increases preparation duration, and then as you accumulate initiations it adds dice when the preparation is used (but it does require having 6 skill in Alchemy, or 4 and being in the Islamic tradition). I think there were another one or two that were alchemy related, but that was the one that really jumped out at me when I made an alchemy using character.
Tecumseh
@Thanee
The official rule is to cap Positive Qualities at 25 karma, although I like qualities a lot so I often bend this to say that you can go above this threshold but only if the net gain/loss from qualities isn't higher than +/- 25 karma. So I usually allow for 40 points of Positive Qualities if they are offset by at least 15 points of Negative Qualities, or 30 points of Negative Qualities if there are at least 5 points of Positive Qualities, etc. (This a personal house rule and has not been approved by the wider GM council here.)

In this specific instance, the distinction might not matter much. The 20 bonus karma from a background is post-chargen karma, but the Mastery qualities in Forbidden Arcana have a special rule that their price does not double after chargen (Forbidden Arcana, p. 30). So in this case you could spend your basic 25 karma on whichever Positive Qualities you want and then spend your 20 background karma on Forbidden Arcana qualities and still not break any rules or require any house rules.

I played an alchemist once 7+ years ago and in my opinion it needed some house rules to make it viable. The primary sin was the nested rolls, namely one roll for creating a preparation and then another roll when it was triggered, meaning the end product had about 1/9th of the hits of your original dice pool. Plus there's a ton of bookkeeping required around when a preparation is created and when it expires, etc. But let's see what direction you go before trying to brainstorm something workable.
Gilga
I think that vault of the ages would help with the bookkeeping.
Jack_Spade
Yes, Forbidden Arcana stuff is great for post gen.
I've got no problem with the proposed house rule.

If you go alchemist, be sure to learn tattooing;)
Thanee
No need to bend the rules for me here. It will be fine. smile.gif

@Tecumseh: I know that Alchemy is not the most powerful stuff, but I've had pretty good experiences with it. The biggest problem is the short duration, before they start to diminish, which make them very difficult to use (need some prep time at the right moment), but the Qualities up that quite a bit. I'm also not going to have Alchemy as my primary, it's just to add something fun. In the long run, I would probably look into getting a Power Focus, that would also help with the dice rolls for Alchemy. I don't think they are quite as bad as you put them, since only one half of the final dice pool is derived from the preparation roll.

@Gilga: Not sure what you are refering to.

@Jack: Is that some special quality or metamagic, I don't know about? Been a while that I created a mage here, I don't know all of it inside out. I've used Contact Preparations mostly in the past, which worked pretty well (kinda like potions, or I like to use magical bonbons, but it's the same thing, effectively).

Anyways... I am pretty far here, already. Gonna post what I have soon, so you will have a much better look of what I am thinking. Need to do the 20Q still, only put down some background notes, but those should give you a good idea, as well as Contacts.

I was debating getting Dedicated Spellslinger (which would be really nice with Sorcery and Alchemy with those lowered costs, making it only 6 Karma to get a spell for both types), but on a full magician, that is just too limiting, I believe. And as far as I have seen, there is noone that can do summoning, at the moment (though, there is that Ally Spirit from AM, of course, however she got ahold of that one, but that's probably some weird stuff that happened during your previous games biggrin.gif).

Bye
Thanee
Thanee
Raven

Metatype Human
Gender female
Age 26
Height 1.60m
Weight 50kg
Hair dark brown
Eyes green
Skin fair

https://i.ibb.co/HCVCGxc/Raven.png

[ Spoiler ]
Gilga
@Thannee

It is basically a box where you can put alchemical preparations without them going bad over time. I think it would make for a lot less book-keeping with preparations.

From Forbidden Arcana:

A vault of ages may store a number of
alchemical compounds or preparations equal to
twice the Magic rating of its creator. The Rating of
these items cannot be more than twice the rating
of the vault. While within the confines of the vault,
these items do not degrade. The degradation
clock starts ticking as soon as they are removed.


Thanee
Oh, okay. That is neat. Didn't know about that one, yet. Thank you! smile.gif

Bye
Thanee
Jack_Spade
Tattooing is just part of the artisan skill - but with it you can create tattoo foci, which have a few benefits that my character would really appreciate.

I can also share with you some tricks how to get really good at artificing with comparatively little effort
Thanee
I see. smile.gif Havn't gone into Artificing, and that would not really fit at the moment, since it is fairly expensive.

Also, Artificing seems rather terrible. biggrin.gif Having to roll tons of net hits on a non-trivial test, with no Edge allowed, and even a chance to lose 1 point of Essence on a very unlucky roll? Geez. And you also need to spend Karma to even create a focus. Buying one, even though they are fairly expensive, seems so much less of a hassle.

QUOTE (Jack_Spade @ Jul 25 2022, 11:24 AM) *
I can also share with you some tricks how to get really good at artificing with comparatively little effort


Sure. It might still be something to pursuit at some point, but for now, there is too much more useful stuff to go after. smile.gif


Should be able to fill in the rest tonight.

Bye
Thanee
Beta
The math on preparation dice pool works out to average hits = 1/9 alchemy dice pool + 2/9 preparation force. Which means that to some degree it is your drain soak that really gates the successes. Of course some spells care more about the force than the successes.

I've only played one character with alchemy, but had a lot of fun with it. Practiced Alchemist really helped make the duration long enough to have a few things prepped. And with that particular character I had a lot of RP fun with Boost Logic -- character had a logic stat of 1 and happily existed most of the time with their head full of nothing but spite and anger, but would pop a small Logic prep any time they needed to think things through.

Something that I didn't make use of from Forbidden Arcana is the "Atomizer" (page 193, same section as the Vault of Ages). It basically let's you create health preparations with a contact trigger instead of a command trigger (the contact is spraying the preparation on the target/recipient). Which let's one pass around health preparations, as well as lowering the drain by 1. 500nY +5ny/cartridge, availability 4, so easy enough to pick up in play in the future.

===========================

Quick question: Would drone repair use the same kit/shop as vehicles of the same category (automotive for ground, aircraft for flying, etc), or would "drone repair kit" be a thing? Or would it be "ground drone repair kit?" Just trying to make sure that Tamarind has the right kits.
Gilga
Just for the record (about making foci) the essence lost can be avoided using the spirt guard power. Not to say that you should do it, but to say that it is not that dangerous.
Thanee
Good point! smile.gif

Bye
Thanee
Jack_Spade
QUOTE (Thanee @ Jul 25 2022, 01:33 PM) *
I see. smile.gif Havn't gone into Artificing, and that would not really fit at the moment, since it is fairly expensive.

Also, Artificing seems rather terrible. biggrin.gif Having to roll tons of net hits on a non-trivial test, with no Edge allowed, and even a chance to lose 1 point of Essence on a very unlucky roll? Geez. And you also need to spend Karma to even create a focus. Buying one, even though they are fairly expensive, seems so much less of a hassle.


Well, I wrote up a little text some years ago over at the official forums:

QUOTE
Let's assume you came late to the enchanting game and/or are a newbie in general.

Magic 6, Arcana 1, Artificing 1 (With Jack of all Trades this takes 2 Karma)
Creating a Focus Formula for a F1 Focus takes only 1 success on your Arcana+Magic test and one day of work.

For the Telesma you want something as basic as a stone you drilled a hole into, or some crude brass knuckles - just make sure it's as natural as possible and only has an object resistance of 3 dice (this is usually no problem except for weapon foci, but such is life. Time to learn the club skill and use a home made staff)

Now, paying Force in Drams is pretty trivial at these low values. A power focus would cost 120 Nuyen in reagents.

Staying one day in your lodge isn't to bad, but now you have to try to beat the Object resistance + Force with your 7 dice. And a Limit of 1. Which is a problem.

And here comes the cheese.
Very wisely, the rules prevent you from spending edge to raise the limit - but there is nothing preventing you from first renting a place with an artificer workshop (special work area +2 to relevant limit +1000 Nuyen to rent), calling a spirit for that one day, so he can make an untrained teamwork check (+1 dice +1 to limit) and/or have your friendly team lead around for some motivation (Leadership test +1 dice +1 to limit) - actually if you can get enough teamwork friends together you can raise the limit arbitrarily high (although it might get a bit too cozy in your lodge - three other magic types is usually enough).
To prevent glitches from eating your essence, you should definitely employ a spirit with the guard ability

That done, you are looking at a mighty dice pool of 8 vs. 4, Limit 6.
Feel free to spend some edge to get more hits - even if the limit doesn't increase.
Why all this?

Because of this little sentence in the rules: Core p. 307
"At the end of the crafting time, it is time for the dangerous part of the process: invoking the power of the focus. Make an Artificing + Magic [formula Force] v. formula Force + telesma’s Object Resistance. This counts as the culmination of all your work over the days, so you can’t use Edge for this test. Your net hits from this test, if you succeed, become the focus’s actual Force."

With a bit of luck you now have an R6 Power Focus for a total Karma investment of 8, 2 days worth of time, 1120 Nuyen, and a few favors from your friends (maybe they want to hang around a bit more to get their own foci?)
Thanee
"a bit of luck" - getting 6 net successes with 8 dice vs 4 (w/o Edge) is a bit more than a bit of luck. biggrin.gif

Thanks! smile.gif

Bye
Thanee
Jack_Spade
The dice gods are a capricious lot...

It helps if you get analyse device for your tools and increase your dicepool a bit further. Technically, you can also improve a low level power focus with with analyse device.

There is also the Practice, Practice positive Quality that improves your limit by one for one skill.
Thanee
QUOTE (Jack_Spade @ Jul 25 2022, 06:29 PM) *
The dice gods are a capricious lot...


They sure are. smile.gif

Bye
Thanee
Gilga
Regardless of Artificing... I think we have enough to start the interlude?
Thanee
Assuming you guys are okay with the character I posted so far. smile.gif

Will look into Contacts and fleshing out the Background with the 20Q later.

Bye
Thanee
Thanee
Mostly the Contacts are missing now. smile.gif

Does everything look alright so far?

Bye
Thanee
Tecumseh
@Beta
Ah, Fagin! The guy who we buy our sloth medications from.

I generally rule that there's a shop/kit for each Engineering skill (Automotive Mechanic, Aeronautics Mechanic, etc.) although I grant that a similarly-sized ground drone and air drone probably have more in common than an air drone does with a plane. I wouldn't be opposed to a "drone repair" kit that covers things smaller than an automobile. I suppose it works out the same either way: either you need two kits for different skills (Automotive vs. Aeronautics) or two kits based on size (drone vs. vehicle).

On THAT note:

@All
I haven't spent much time thinking about the new Lifestyle and things we might want to include, like a garage. It might be best to brainstorm that together. I believe the plan is to maintain SIS HQ in Redmond, but simply as an office rather than a residence (that might be blown up if we anger the wrong people).

Separately, in the name of NOT powergaming let's not aim for F6 power foci. Not yet, anyway. Let's start small and work our way up from there. If we want to artifice some F1 and F2 foci - or some qi tattoos - then that's cool but let's introduce them slowly.

@Thanee
I'm reviewing Raven and should have some thoughts later this afternoon/evening. We should be able to start the Interlude before long, like tonight or tomorrow.

What time zone are you? We're stretched all across North America, Europe, and the Middle East.
Beta
@Thanee just a couple of thoughts after having looking over Raven.

- We already have one shapechange caster in the group (Bobby is an adept but has that spell through the Adept Spell power). On the one hand it can become a lot of shape changing if two are doing it, and on aonther it is a pretty central part of Bobby's character, so maybe crowding his 'thing'. I don't know how central to your concept of Raven that is, but would a specific Critter Form work instead? (such as raven?) It would create some space between the characters while still giving Raven an alternate form.

- Control thoughts is definitely one of those 'use with care' spells. Not saying don't take it, just remember that SIS is a somewhat legitimate business with an address and even a small matrix presence. Getting a reputation as mind rapists would be bad for business (except for the kind that is its own sort of trouble). It is a bit different from ShadowRunners who are doing their best to be anonymous.
Jack_Spade
I have no problem with someone else also having shapechange - I invested pretty heavily into various qualities to turn the spell into what it can do now. I suspect Raven will have many other things to spend Karma on wink.gif

As for powergaming: Yeah, that wasn't a recommendation to blow everything up with foci (just the original text I wrote back then), but just a tipp how you can dabble in artificing and still get some good results.

Oh and yes: If control thoughts goes sideways, Bobby will have to flush another witness down the toilet.
Gilga
@Thanee when you say Raven is "Living on the streets?" Do you mean literally living in the streets?
How does that combine with doing alchemy (and perhaps having a lab) and with being a mage in general, magical lodge and so forth?
Beta
And to add that Tamarind is locked down now. I decided to keep the skills and ware as they were, and spent a bit on better mechanic autosofts and added a respirator and ammo(!)

To-do early in the game will be to get her RCC modified to have a stealth rating of 1, to go with the R1 attack dongle, allowing her to throw edge at using certain Electronic Warfare actions.
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