Okay I'm curious to see if anyone is interested in this campaign (ignoring my terrible record of online campaigns for a moment...).
Basically it's set within Renraku Arcology during the period where it's shut down and Deus is in control.
You know, the Banded, weird robotic drones, bizarre experiments and a struggle for the resistance to survive each and every day...
But with a few little twists. I'm not going to give to much away but Deus isn't the only thing playing God in the arcology...

Just before the arcology went down, Renraku hired a group of Shadowrunners as "independent consultants" - to test out the security of the SCIRE in the event that hostile forces actually got into it, as well as to advise security forces in techniques for dealing with intrustion (whether Matrix, physical or astral).
And then the arcology got locked down and all hell broke loose.

The player characters obviously are a part of that shadowrun team, and as they get caught up in a fight for their lives, and the lives of the other citizens of the SCIRE, they will be dragged into a struggle not just between Deus and Renraku, but between forces that no-one, not even Deus or Renraku, knew existed...

The characters have to have a reason for staying in the arcology if an escape presents itself - this could be because they want to help others escape or help the resistance (they might very well be leaders of the Resistance - this campaign starts the moment the arcology goes down) or just becuase there is billions in nuyen of paydata still in the arcology, waiting for the brave, the desperate and the plain greedy to grab it...

Characters are built using 140 build points and probably enjoy a good reputation with Renraku - they might even be company men who have sold out to the corporation.
The main book and the various rules supplements (Cannon Companion, Magic in the Shadows etc.) are all fine, though I don't have Rigger 3. There will be a lot of stuff going on in the Matrix, though you won't necessarily need to be a decker to see it...

As I said, the campaign starts just as the shutdown happens so it'll be quite a lethal campaign. The gung-ho needn't apply.

So, is anyone interested?

Yeah, pretty interested.

Ooh. Sounds interesting. I'll sign up.

Echo that.

I'd like to play a tech-savy sammy with demolitions expertise. The perfect guy to get us around the arcology, by hotwiring doors, knocking them down, or just making new ones.

Well, 4-6 players will be the maximum (Any more and it becomes too hard to do).
So far:
FXcalibur
Phyrexus
spitfire gecko
Beast of Revolutions

two more at most and we'll be fine!

So, feel free to post up character concepts and we'll see what we get!
(Just a little heads-up - as annoying as they can be, a decker or otaku would be a decent idea - after all, it *is* Deus we're talking about here ^_^)

Count me in. Been way to long since I played a decker. Maybe I should play an otaku working for Mirage. Does Mirage have otaku followers yet, or does he only start recruiting after the arcology?

On review of the Matrix book, looks like Mirage isn't awakened until after Deus attacks. Maybe Magaera then. I could be a tribeless otaku who has been spying on Renraku for her by being part of the "consultant" team with the other PCs, gathering information she can use to work her revenge against Renraku, her hated creators. The character would have received otaku training directly from Megaera rather than from a tribe, and when the arcology closes up, he could desperately try to recontact her.

Are you going on a first-come first-serve basis? If not, count me in as a potential candidate.

Id love to give it a go. I'm thinking a female Jayne Cobb (if anyone was a fan of firefly). Basically your cutthroat mercenary who's always looking for the big payday, a little on the dumb side but loyal enough to whoever ends up being the leader to keep a reign on her (or him...still deciding gender). Let me know if there is still room.

Well I guess seven would be okay... it might slow down combats a bit but I'm planning on keeping them fairly free-form anyway to minimise dice-rolling...
So we have:
FXcalibur
Phyrexus
spitfire gecko
Beast of Revolutions
Panzergeist
Doctor Funkenstein
Blitz

And that's it! Unless of course one of you drops out at some point...

Anyway, post character concepts here!
The group doesn't necessarily have had to work before - they could very well be a number of independents who Renraku has brought together.
But of course they could always be a team that has worked together for ages. It doesn't make a huge difference.

140 build points, metatypes are allowed. Shapeshifters are okay I suppose... though only one maximum in the group. Ghouls are a no-no - this is Renraku after all!
Cultured bioware is allowed, as is betaware cyberware.
Each character is allowed to purchase one item with an availability of over eight (or a bunch of an item if you want to start with APDS for example).
That's about it in terms of rules I can think of... send characters to me by PM or at kartzoffs@bigpond.com

For those of you who are familiar with Renraku Arcology: Shutdown and the events surrounding it, I'm fiddling with things a bit, including the layout of the arcology a little bit. Just an advance warning so you guys can't accuse me of fudging things ! ^_^

Is it too late to join up? I've got a character I was making for another game, but life got in the way. He's an adrenalin junkie sammy type who got so into using chips to take care of necessary skills that he's barely got any skills of his own now (Rating 6 skillwires, enhanced articulation, basically anything else that worked very well in general). He can do anything, though he needs the right chip for the job. He even has a pretty good decking ability, though no deck to work with.

That or, if it doesn't sound to munchie, an albino gnome bat shaman I've been playing with... has a phobia of being stepped on and as such makes good use of his levitate spell to stay above everyone else. He ends up floating above the party most of the time.

JaronK

Ooo...good point. I was also looking at going skill wires...any house rules on that?

Hmm. Oh, Hell, I'm desperate so I'll give it a shot. Lemme know if he sounds promisings. I just threw the background together from various notes so excuse all the grammatical and spelling errors -- it's just a rough draft.

ALBRECHT "RAGING BULL" KOHHENBURG
Troll Combat Biker (Million-Nuyen Samurai)

Albrecht Kohhenburg was born on April 21st, 2033 in the Trollkönigreich Schwarzwald. There he earned a quiet but honest living working in his family's chocolate factory. Life was good if uneventful, but Albrecht always dreamed of one day changing his stars and becoming famous. Little did he know that his opportunity was just around the block...

On his eighteenth birthday, Albrecht took a vacation to Berlin with two his best friends when they ran into some trouble with a group of Humanis go-gangers at a gas station. Unbeknownst to Albrecht, a scout for the Baton Rouge Red Devils was enjoying lunch in a cafe across the street when he single-handedly showed the Gruppen Grün why you don't torque off a troll. An hour later, he was signing a contract and by the end of the week he had a passport and was on his way to the CAS.

It didn't take long for Albrecht "Raging Bull" Kohhenburg to make a name for himself on the combat biking circuit. Within two years he was the starting linebiker for the Red Devils where he earned the MVP award and lead his team to the championship game four years in a row. He even managed to earn a multi-million nuyen Wheaties sponsorship by Renraku his last year in the game.

Life was fantastic. He had all the money, fame, and women he could dream of. Enthusiasts were always stopping him on the street to ask for his autograph or to take a picture with him. But all of it was just getting to be too much for him. In his heart, Albrecht was just a blue-collar factory worker and he was actually beginning to miss the simple life he had left behind. Those who knew him weren't surprised when, on June 16th of 2057, the Raging Bull held a press conference and announced his retirement from the game. He said that he wanted to get out while he was still at the top of his game, but those who were close to him knew he was just growing tired of the limelight.

Since part of Albrecht's sponsorship deal with Renraku included a free condo in the Seattle Arcology, the troll decided that's where he was going to retire. Afterall, the music scene was great and people were less likely to recognize him there than in his team's home city of Baton Rouge. In the few years that followed, slowly but surely his fame faded from the memories of many, and fewer and fewer people stopped to gawk around him whenever he went out shopping or to catch a simflick. Sadly, he had squandered most of his fortune away so when a high-up in the Renraku brass approached him with a token job offer to test out some of the arcology's latest security features, he figured "what the frag?"

He had no idea his life was about to be turned upside down...

Hmm. What about firearm design options, such as custom grips or integral accessories?

Character Concept: Phyrexus "Phyrex" Eliff
14 year old human physad/decker.
Specializes in stealth, but is also good at decking and descent at fighting.
Yeah. Bio in soon, character sheet in after that.

Thinking of a battlefield tactician / sniper. Aptitude SUT. Jap lady with strong ties to renraku.

When were you hoping to see the characters completed, Ronin?

Groovy. Sounds cool to me.

Can we snag items beyond the Rating 6/Availability 8 limit with that 50kY (beyond the one item we get with our initial resources)?

sounds good to me.

Small unit tactics can work via radio, right?

I'm working on my otaku character. Do I need to buy a lifestyle, or does Renraku provide us with food and housing in the arcology while we are doing this job for them?

While we're waiting on Ronin Soul, how is everyone's characters coming along?

I'm going to have to drop out. I'm going to be kind of busy for the next 3 weeks, and I don't want to add any more games during that time.

Character's going pretty well for me. Almost done. Should have it ready soon.

Sorry about the not getting back to you guys - I had a lot to do in the past few days!

To answer the questions:

Yes you can get things over the availability 8 with the bonus 50,00k but don't go overboard!

Renraku provides a lifestyle for all characters in the arcology itself so don't worry too much about lifestyles. Besides, when Deus turns up it'll be a fairly moot point anyway...

I'm sorry to hear that Panzergeist.
If JaronK is still interested he can join in - otherwise six people should be fine.
Looking forward to seeing those characters!

Haruko's been sent in.

Alright... which character would you prefer to see? The bat shaman or the chip samurai? Or should I work on backgrounds for both (it's a busy week so that may be a little hard).

JaronK

Right then. Are Surge effects doable? I was thinking pointed ears and high frequency hearing might be very appropriate for a little gnome bat shaman, but I can ditch those two if you don't want SURGE.

Quick character summary: Leaf is a completely white gnome, slightly bat like in appearance, whose dignified aire runs in direct opposition to his almost comical, pint sized appearance. He is a very impressive spell caster, and takes himself very seriously at all times. He does, however, have a phobia of being stepped on (stemming from an incedent with a troll a number of years back), and as such is almost always flying with his levitate spell. His name comes from the way he floats about like a leaf on the wind. In combat he prefers to withdraw to a high place (due to the phobia) and force opponents away from him with his spells, or if he needs to with his whip.

An albino gnome bat shaman, a retired troll combat biker, and a mysterious sniper-type something. Sounds like an "interesting" team so far.

I am almost finished with my character sheet. Just need to buy equipment. Thought I would drop in some info on her for the teams FYI.

Name: Elizabeth Dangle
Handle: Noir

Formerly a member of Boston SWAT, she is familiar with just about every standard weapon ever made and can effectively handle them all. Course, she's wired up to maximum to be as deadly as the Boston PD Special Units budget could afford.

She made a name for herself during the height of the Red Branch activities against the increasing elven population. The terrorist organization had garnered a strong foothold in Boston's seedier districts and created hundreds of opportunities over her 5 year career to show her uncanny effectiveness. Within her first year, she was promoted to squad leader and ran the most successful hostage response team Boston had ever seen.

Unfortunately, the year of the comet stopped her career path dead in it's tracks. Though her change was minor compared to most affected, her dramatically changed skin color and addition of a third eye in her left hand were enough of an oddity to lock her out of command positions permanantly. Once the overly conservative commissioner began discussing taking away her Leadership role altogether, it made Renraku's offer seem all the more enticing.

So she hopped on a plane and flew out to the other side of the country. She was introduced to corporate life and since no one knew her, they didn't gawk awkwardly at her jet black skin. She began her assimilation into the corporate world and began studying the tactics utilized by the corporate sector. Within 6 months, she began what she was hired for: training the Red Samurai Guard in SWAT tactics and hostage situations. She found that she learned as much from them as they from her.

It was uncomfortable at first. While extremely in shape, she was half the size as many of the Samurai and no one was going to give her any respect until she earned it. However, her smallish frame was quickly found to be as solid as steel and quick as a jack rabbit on speed. Her uncanny tactical understanding increased their group effectiness over 200% after her initial training course.

Then it happened......

Huh. I'm playing someone who's an expert in tactics too. Great. Potential overlapping roles.

You don't happen to specialize in stealth or sniping too, do you?

No, not at all. She's multi/heavy weapons specialize with an aptitude for swat tactics, hostage type, hostile urban settings. Quick hard hit, bad guys dead, good guys saved kinda thing.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to drop out, too. I'll be going on a trip soon, and won't be able to find the time to post in another game. Sorry.

Hmm... that's right... then Noir's leaving due to SURGE effects might be a bit premature too, eh? Okay, I'll have Leaf finished up soon. He's not going to like the troll too much, but if he stays at eye level with him it shouldn't be much of a problem!

JaronK

Anyway. Updated character summary in.

Name: Phyrexus "Phyrex" Eliff
Alias: Striker
Type: Decker/Sorcerer

(Just a note. This backstory is a direct result of watching AKIRA one too many times.)
Backstory: Phyrex, a young runner of 18, and leader of a biker gang in the Pallyup Barrens, is reltively inexperienced when it comes to the shadows. Though he grew up on the streets with his brother and sister, he never was aware of the greater danger that the Sixth World was inherit to. Around the age of 14, he founded his bike gang, dubbed the Strikes. The Strikes were a more good than bad gang, stopping other gangs from destroying property and hurting innocents. Their main enemies were the Halloweeners, fighting them whenever they got the chance.

One night, the Strikes were chasing down a few Halloweeners on their bikes when Phyrex was split off from the others. He followed two Halloweeners down an old city road toward the outskirts of town, were one of the Halloweeners took a wrong turn and crashed. The other one ran into a low wall and flipped off his bike, where he summarily got a blow to the head from an iron pipe by the way of Phyrex. Not watching where he was going, Phyrex almost ran straight into a small boy, but his bike exploded just before he hit. Soon after, military helicopters came and took the boy and Phyrex away. Phyrex was put in a military hospital, and was then released a few days later. Little did they know, the shock of contact with the boy triggered something inside Phyrex which made him become Awakened.

That was four years ago. Now Phyrex works as a Shadowrunner, using his newly Aweakened powers to aid him and his companions whenever the need arises. He enjoys a good reputation as a runner and as a street ganger, but all that was to be changed when he got a job offer from Renraku...

Workin on a rewrite

Character's done. Where do I send it to?

Send the characters to kartzoffs@bigpond.com

Character sent.

Kohhenburg should be in your mailbox, too. Sorry about the color bleeding into the email; I forgot it does that when attaching an HTML file.

Okay! So far I have Funkenstein, Phyrexus and FXcalibur's characters! That should leave (unless I've missed something) Jaron, Blitz and Beast of Revolutions still to send in characters!

Also, when I get the spare hour or so to do it, I'll write up a list of the arcology's floors (this is for those of you with Shutdown just the list from the back of that book without any of the post Shutdown information). Who wants me to send them that when it's done up? (Basically anyone without Renraku Arcology: Shutdown. I'll be referencing floors a lot to save time ^_^)

I've never played Shutdown myself. I'd like to have it. Use the email I sent the character from, thanks.

I'll need the Shutdown stuff too, Ronin. Thanks.

I have it... somewhere. But if you're going to type up the information, I could use a copy, too, just in case I can't find it.

Ok, creative void...let's just make it that her career path was halted due to her being a woman, and thus the opportunity for a command position at Renraku was the lext logical step.

BTW...I, too, would like a copy of the floors

Phyrexus, Funkenstein, FXcalibur - did you get the floor layout? I sent it to you last night...
I'll send it to you Blitz when I get your character!

Yes. I got the floor layout. Thanks. I'm so exited! This'll be my first Shadowrun game...ever! Wheee!