This is the out of character thread for Reunification. However, at this time, I have recruited a bunch of my old college friends to play in this game so I will not be taking character submissions from anyone but them. I intend for this game to last a while (i.e. more than just a one-shot game) so if any of them have to bow out, then I will look for others to take their place. Also, depending on the characters they make and if they want more team members, I could be looking for more players. But for now, I'm not. Sorry!

Keep me in mind if you need someone. I always enjoyed playing in your games.

So we're off to europe eh? Sounds awesome. I think we should go for the vatican approach it might be fun to be crazy zealots rather than "good cops" or "avg. joes". Also it could make for some awesome back-stories. Although I was also kinda hoping to go for another Fenrir Shaman and I'm not sure of the churches view on shamanic magic. Not the same character as the last game we played though, I'd like to make this character a bit more of a magical loose cannon.

The Church's view on shamanic magic tends more toward the Idols in Magic in the Shadows (they're built into the character generator) rather than the mythic or natural totems. I'd say take a look at the Adversary Idol. Seems to be a loose-cannon type of Idol. If we go with the Church route, you'll probably have to consider why someone with a problem with authority would be working for the second largest authority figure in Europe but that's your problem

Rich is in the hizzouse!!!

let me know if i am doing my usual brute or if Jack the Rigger will be making a come back : P it all depends on what everyone else is making

Jack the Rigger could be a possibility. Gives us a chance to learn the rules for real this time

Hey all....not sure whether you all want me to run as teh decker/otaku (not sure which yet) if elfie doesnt want to or as the crazy i have every gun in my pocket killing machine again....i'm open to suggestions and will gladly fill either role...btw, this is will

Okay, I have to ask. I've been resisting for about an hour now. Rich, why did you use "Roger Thompson" as your handle?

Oh -- and Rich ... errr ... Mr. Thompson ... if you wanted to go rigger, I might look into flying Some of the shite I'm thiking about has you all moving between Italy, Frace, Poland (I didn't forget them), and Russia. Course this all hinges on us actually keeping the game alive that long

i decided to use my initials RT, and well i will definatly make a new name on the forum "jock the rigger" soon, he is going to make a come back with flying lol but i suppose i need to get cracking on the character creation then : ) do you suggest hellicopter or plane? and man i can't wait, JOCK IS BACK! ::in a horribly thick but utterly rediculus french accent:: were are the women?! jock needs one to handle his electronic guidance for a like ten minutes!

Dash, do you mean the Gendarmeria Pontificia (Pontifical Gendarmerie)? I like the vatican angle, but maybe that's because I'm reading a bit too into it and think it will head us against more para-critters. That and it would give me more reason to try a mage again (I think in the books there's a holy order of mages, something like awakened priests ... St. somethingorother). If Will wants to run a decker this time, I'll gladly pass and go mage if that's ok. It's not final, but that's what I'm leaning towards.

Edit: Forgot how to spell in Italian and spell check's no help there.

Yea reunion!!! I like the vatican thing...I can go with that. So, I was thinking of continuing my B/E status. Dash, is there any way to combine that with some magic to back it up? Since the threat of para things is greater I wanted to have some magic to throw at them, but I also really enjoy the B/E thing. If that won't work I can always go B/E/Face since Elfie and Kemmerer are leaning toward magic. Just let me know and I can see what I can work up. Don't suppose you'd just let me use Lynx huh? Course then I have to figure out how she's in Bethlehem, PA and Italy.

Just FYI Dash said I can bring Laura (my wife) along for this so it looks like we'll both be mages (with her as my apprentice which could make for some interesting use of flaws/edges) I haven't decided on anything related to totems/idols yet but just thought i'd let you guys know so you could at least choose your character classes.

-Matt

god we're going to be an interesting group....i think im leaning towards a decker because it gives me more freedom to work with then the original otaku dave and i had made....the other option would be for me to scrap that idea and roll with a mea- shield type-
i'm-gonna-kill-everything-in-my-path-cuz-i-have-a-wagon-of-guns-and-other-
means-of-raining-death-down-upon-you-behind-me-and-i'm-not-afraid-to-
dole-out-punishment-and-holy-vengence-upon-you....wow, that was great...let me know what you want cuz im easy like that

The Vatican's gotta have an orbital holy cow satelite floating around somewhere, right? I mean, it's the vatican and all. One of us just needs to paint the target with a cross-shaped laser, right? Right?

Another question, what's the vatican's stance on metahumanity? I mean, do they look down on Trolls and Orks more than what we're used to, or are they more accepting?

Edit: Friends abroad edge...can I take God as my contact?

The vatican was opposed to metahumans and magic for the first like 15 years of the awakening or so and a Papal statement declared them the spawn of satan. Then a different Pope basically called that earlier Pope and idiot and alter the Church's stance toward a more tolerant one. There could be pockets of your run-of-the-mill frothing zealot who still opposes metahumanity but they're the exception for the RCC and not the rule. As a result of this flip-flop, the German Catholic Church (GCC) split from the vatican and is now doing it's own little thing in Westphalia (one of the Allied German States).

Stiggybaby's Online Shadowrun Inventory

There's a link to an online discount roleplaying superstore (they have everything) in case anyone was planning on getting rulebooks. I honestly don't think you need them, but I suppose it couldn't hurt and that site saves you money so

Oh, and anyone who's thinking of potentially going the Adept route (might be a way to alter Lynx and beef her up with magic if you wanted to, hun) then there are a host of new powers in SOTA:2064 which I own (I open every book in that link above now, BTW). I think the new powers are integrated into the character generator (linked above) but if you have questions you can let me know. There are now some really neat powers to help in social situations which is a place where adepts were not powerful before. Much fighting going on over this on the discussion forum but I'm reserving judgement until I see more time with the powers.

Hey all. Chris has started to converse with me by personal message on the board about his concepts. As you all come up with and start to generate your ideas, send me personal message (PM) or an email (dashifen[at]dashifen.com) and I'll send you my comments. That way when a character concept is posted in this thread it's mostly finalized.

Unless it's crucial to someone's character, I call dibs on the Ares SuperSquirt filled with Holy Water

Doesn't that only work against vampires, werewolves and demons? Although, if someone in the group was an ordained priest, we'd technically have an unlimited supply of that!

well since I'm most likely going the route of ordained priest, I thought ahead

Okay. Here's the back story for you all as a group. Remember that I hope you all have some form of a back story for each character within this group, and if at all possible include how you became a part of this group. I meant to post this on Friday but that didn't happen. Oh well.

You're all connected to the Order of St. Sylvester which is the magical arm of the Roman Catholic Church. However the Sylvestrians have a number of internal groups which have different purposes. This is roughly the same to the current Jesuit Order which can act as teachers at Catholic colleges, missionaries, explorers, scientists, etc. I don't know if the current Jesuit order has any structure within it that results in these groups, but for my purposes, the Sylvestrian Order of the Sixth World does.

This internal structure has three main groups roughly analogous to the Catholic Trinity. They are the Faithful Protectors (Father), the Guides (Son), and the Immanent Order (Holy Spirit). The Faithful Protectors (aka FatProts, though not to their faces) are those within the Sylvestrian order who dedicate themselves to healing the sick with magic, cleansing areas of the Astral which have become polluted, exorcisms, and the like. The Guides run the Sylvestrian schools which teach magical arts as they are used within the Catholic church, though they've been beginning to admit non-Catholics as well similar to how non-Catholics can attend a Catholic university today (i.e. Boston College).

The Immanent Order is the spies. These are the individuals who travel the land looking for magical threats to the faithful, seek out dissenters within the Church using ritual tracking and astral projection. The Immanent Order is also known to employ teams of "deniable Church assets" to assist them in their mission. You all are one such group.

This doesn't preclude, as Chris mentioned above, one or more of you being members of the Sylvestrians Order (which would mean you're ordained Catholic priests). Remember, however, that the Order is considered a Magical Group and may ask you to perform tasks mandated by the Pope beyond those that you might already be working on as a result of the Immanent Order.

Rumor has it that the Immanent Order reports directly to the Curia and the Pope, ignoring all of the rest of the Sylvestrian's hierarchy. You don't know if this is the case or not. What you do know is that your immediate superior and the member of the Immanent Order that you report to is named Father Alfonso Rodriguez, a Spanish priest originally from Barcelona. He now resides in Rome at the Order's chapterhouse, about 10 minutes west of St. Peter's Basilica.

Being connected to the Immanent Order does not require that your characters are Catholic. The Order would probably hope that you would see the light and join the ranks of the faithful, but if you can do the job they need done, they consider your personal faith to be icing on the cake. You have been provided with fake identification in the Republic of Tuscany. Tuscany is nominally it own city-state, but it is actually a puppet of Rome. Since your identification is connected to Tuscany, Rome can disavow all knowledge of you and your actions. Also, standard operating procedure for Immanent groups is to act without connection to the Immanent Order, which also helps them deny knowledge of your activity should you be caught, captured, killed, or excommunicated. In other words, if you're question about who your are and you you work for, you don't work for the Immanent Order, right

In addition to Roman Catholicism, there are two other major branches of Catholicism in the Sixth World. The French Catholic Church (FCC) split from the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) when Pope John Paul IV mandated that metahumans and magic were "unholy and ungodly by their very nature" on January 1st 2012. The FCC felt that this was not the case and split from Rome on this matter. As a result, while the FCC shows lip service to Rome, the FCC has been acting with some autonomy since the mid 2010's.

When Pope John XXV--the successor to John Paul IV--states in Imago Dei that:

• Metahumans are possessed of souls and capable of salvation. Discrimination against Metahumans is not Christian,
• Magical abilities are not, by nature, evil. Rather, like any other human ability, they may be used for good or evil ends, and
• Spirits are living manifestations of nature. Thus, conjuring is not in itself evil,

the German Catholic Church (GCC) splits itself from Rome because the GCC still agrees with Pope John Paul IV. John XXV is still the current Pope and though he's 99 years old shows no signs of weakness or slowing down!

There's also the Church of Ireland which is most of the metahumans of Ireland that were pissed at Pope John Paul IV and the papal bull of 2012. But, they don't have much clout outside Tír na nÓg.

I suggest that to get a sense of what's been going on in Europe in the Sixth world that you all go to timeline.dumpshock.com. Enter "Europe" into the Query field and make sure that you mark "Canon" as the source and search. Brings up a number of bullet points that give you a run down of the dissolution of the European Union, the Euro Wars, and then the eventual re-creation of the New European Economic Consortium (NEEC) in 2062. You can also visit http://www.divnull.com/lward/sixthworld/ which has maps of the Sixth World in PDF format to get a geo-political bird's eye view of Europe. It's also a portal to the Sixth World Wiki so has a lot of other information as well, if you like wikis that is.

We will be starting this game in July of 2064 for those that want to know.

Keep sending me those questions. Rich – haven't heard a peep from you in a while. You still out there?

One other thing for Megan, Wil, and Rich: the main method that Father Rodriguez gets in touch with your group is via the Matrix. It'll be handy if one of the three of you takes a datajack to get on the matrix. It may not be a bad idea for you mage types or those who don't want datajacks to get a electrod rig which lets you see the matrix without a datajack. Also, keep in the back of your heads that somone might want to take a Computer (Search Operations) which you can use without full decking to legally search for information on the matrix.

Lastly, Wil, since you were thinking meatshield over decker, how about an Ork or Troll combat decker? You could take a skil like Computer (Decking) 3 (6) so you still have some power decking abilities but save karma for other skills. Get the CMT Avatar as well as some of the important utilities (Sleaze, Deception, Browse, Attack, Armor, Shield, Cloak, Spoof, etc) at lower ratings and you'd still probably have a decent amount of money left for cyberware if you want it. Might have to get regular grade rather than alphaware, but it could be done. Take a cranial cyberdeck or a cyberdeck inside a cyberlimb and you can take it everywhere with you

Hmmm....so basically the Immanent Order is an MI and MIB kind of thing. Is there a shadow world 2064 equivalent to the neuralizer?

With just a cyber forearm you can put any of the stock cyberdecks into your arm. Get a router with a DNI between the deck and your head memory and you have some nice storage memory upgrades. The cyberforearm costs only .65 essence and 40,000 . Add the CMT Avatar for 250,000 and some of the necessary utilities and you could make a rather nice decker. Not going to be hacking into the Vatican mainframe, but hopefully you won't need to..... hopefully......

There's a new version of NSRCG out as of yesterday. Big update is the new adept powers from SOTA:2064 are now included. Link: http://matrix.dumpshock.com/mcmackie. I'd say update if you want the adept powers and definately update if you haven't since Lehigh, but if you don't want the adept stuff and it seems to be working well for you, don't worry about it.

there we go finally remembered my password lol

anyways, Jock will be my character definatly after talking to will, but i was wondering a few things before i start, are we the police/vatican? or are we just shaddow runners? that will affect what gear i take : P

You're "deniable Church assets" therefore shadowrunners

Here is our chitty chitty bang bang

2 of you will want to take gunnery skills to man the large machine guns i plan on having Pintle Mounted on the cargo bay doors, just a FYI : P

I won't be one of them. That's what Storm spirits are for.

Question: If I use a hitcher jack to jack into Jock's rigger line of sight, that doesn't count as LOS for spells does it? At best I can just give instructions to a spirit with that kind of vision?

Remember: Gunnery is an intelligence linked skill and can, therefore, I think you can take advantage of task pool provided by the Encephalon cyberware. Not a bad way to grab a few more dice for shooting at people in air combat.

Also, to answer Chris's question, mages cannot use any type of electronic vision enhancement for line of sight. In fact, that's why cybereye vision magnification comes in optical (good for mages) and electrical (bad for mages) varieties. But, you can command natures spirits as long as you're in their domain. All occupants of a vehicle are considered to be within the domain in which the vehicle is located. Therefore, you'll be in the sky domain as long as Rich's new toy isn't on the ground. Course you could step out of the vehicle at that point and command the spirit. If you use the spirit against someone else, the spirit will find that person as long as that person (or people) are in the natural domain of the spirit. So, if you command a storm spirit to attack another airship it can travel anywhere it needs to within its domain (the storm) to deal with that airship. However, if the airship lands inside a hanger (city domain) then the spirit could only attack the hanger and not the airship. Or, if you would go into a building (city domain) then you could no longer command the spirit? That make sense to you? I tried to be as complete as possible since you all don't have as much experience with conjuring as with sorcery.

Yeah I understand, I just wanted confirmation before I started thinking up all sorts of crazy mage/rigger combo ideas

hey all....sorry i havent replied in forever and a day but im kind of on a small island in the carribean with next to no connections to the outside world. refreshing and a pain in the ass at the same time....neway, i get back sometime sunday so i will catch up with everything then...sorry if i cause any delays but with a 26000 bps connection and my computer residing in the states, i dont have my character with me and cant upload him...will do as soon as i get back tho....sounds like we're gonna be in for some fun regardless...later guys

Hi grendel. To others: grendel plays a rigger in a game that I play in on the boards. I asked him to help Rich out with Jacques ( ) so that our attempt at rigging doesn't turn into the debacle it was last time.

Also, house rule alert. Chris reminded me of this. I've actually played with this rule the whole time so it only effects Chris and Laura who haven't done magic before: the successes generated by the Sorcery test when casting spells are always limited by the Force unless otherwise limited in the description of the spell. This means that if you case a Force 1 Improved Invisibility spell, my ubergoon only needs 1 successes with a target number of 2 to beat your spell. But, cast it at Force 6 and that same ubergoon will need to meet or beat your successes. If you roll 5 successes and ubergoon's got an intelligence of 4, he can't beat you.

Edit: actually, don't go read the house rules on my web site. I'm not using all of them this time. I put that list together for my real world game this semester and since we've played before I'm not worried about all of that.

Think of me as a technical advisor. I perform the same job as a consultant only for much less pay.

Actually, I've just decided to double your pay. You deserve it

Uh... 2 x 0 = 0.

Shhhh ... if you don't think about these things life is much more interesting

Hiya Grendel!

Actually, your rigger post just killed my salivating over two Ares Vanquisher HMG's (at least i think that's the V gun that's HMG, too many large guns that start with V). Not that it really affects me, but I still like to drool over the high-end stuff.

And Elfie gets the prize for the first character sheet to me I'll take a look at it tomorrow.

hey, havent heard from anyone in a while...hope everyones turkey day was good....any word on if characters were good or when were gonna start running?