Well, Slacker beat me to it with his SR4 Food Fight, but I'll be running a more complete module that I designed called Interception. It was originally an SR3 game, but I figure I've got a little while to convert it before we need to worry about specifics.

I'll be using canon SR4 rules. I personally do not see the need to house rule SR4 yet sicne I don't feel I have the experience with the system to know if it needs house ruling. It's not required that you own the book or the PDF to play, since I'm going to consider this to be largely a tutorial session that, if necessary, could be archived as a "demo" of the system. Thus, I expect to wax pedagogical when I explain things.

This is a run for five people. Any character could be potentially useful. I wish there was a better way to do it, but I guess it'll be first come first served for playing spots.

Keep in mind, this'll be a learning experience for me as well. I've run a few SR4 games in real time already on the weekends, but I found running a few modules here at the DSF was a great way to learn SR3 back to front. Thus, I'll be doing the same with SR4.

That said, let the submissions commence. For now give me a character name and archetype. I'd be particularly interested in not overlapping too much for this game since there's (a) not that many open slots and (b) I'd like to get to try out as many new rules as I can.

My SR4: First Run game is going to be more than just Food Fight. I was just using that to start things off so we could get some practice/familiarity with combat before moving on to a real adventure.

I'd be interested in playing in your game though. I'll post a concept later, once I get home. Probably a straight mundane with no cyber or bio. I am wanting to see how well a character with high Edge can hold his own.

You can put myself and Buddha72 down as an Adept and a Mage, specifics to be provided later upon request

Ooh ooh pick me! pick me!

Burned out mage tunred Cyber ware guy. I want to see how well I can do it. I think the SR4 rules make it so everyone can (and should) have a point or two of magic. Time to see if it works.


Sundown

Mage/Negotiator/Sam

Oooooh.
Howabouts a professional thief?

I'd love to try a sammy-type with heavy bioware modifications.. I don't have the book (waiting for an actual physical book to buy) so I'll need help. If that doesn't bother you, I'd like to be in the game. Concept would be something like a failed experiment that wasn't all that bad after all but worthless to the people who "made" it.

Panther - Bio-Sammy

Damn, I was too slow to reply, or I'd shout out "Pick me," too. Would be nice to play something that is an exact opposite of what I'm playing in Slacker's game to get a broad spectrum experience. Oh well, with 5 slots, looks like I missed it by like 30 seconds.

Winter

Concept:
Name: Jason Mercer
Streetname" Slacker
Archetype: CovertOps Specialist
Slacker was born lucky and has come to rely heavy on it. Born into a middle-class family, he never had to make any tough decisions growing up. When it came time for him to choose a career, he couldn't make a decision and eventually turned to the shadows, where he can just sit around waiting for a call from his fixer. When it comes to skills he tends to be more generalized, since he just doesn't have the patience to work at them or doing any studying. The few skills that he does do well are simply things he thought were "cool."

edit: Hmm...now that I look back at the first five people to post interest it doesn't look like there is any hacker. I may change Slacker to be something of a hacker instead of CovertOps.

So, our roster is:

1. Shadow
2. Slacker
3. Fenris
4. Buddha72
5. Nikoli

Sorry gobogen and Wintermancer, I really wish there was a better way to choose people for online games ... I've thought of allowing entries for a certain amount of time and then letting the computer choose randomly but it seems like too much work.

@Slacker: a hacker may not be a bad idea since Nikoli mentioned a professional thief which is often very similar to a coverops specialist depending on how it's built.

So, now, who has access to the book. I hestitate to make available a large amount of information, but I can provide the Build Point Cost Summary Table since FanPro said we could photocopy it (which I hope covers extracting the page from the PDF and emailing it to you all). After that we'll have to figure out what we want to do about gear.

Ok, I'll change my concept to being a Hacker instead.

Since I am running an SR4 game, it goes without saying that I have the book (LE copy and PDF).

I posted a fairly extensive summary on Character Generation in my own recruitment thread. I could copy into here or people could just go into the SR4 First Run thread (its quite a ways into the thread though).

Since its a summary and not every detail I figure, and these initial games help promote the SR4 game in general, I expect FanPro won't have a problem with it. Though, if at any point they contact me about it, I will be removing it.

Also, Talia posted an even more abbreviated summary of chargen shortly after GenCon.

That's what I get for grabbing a couple of hours sleep.

Not a problem. I'm already in one SR4 game on these boards. Frankly, I would rather pass on this anyway just to make sure someone who isn't in an SR4 game yet can get into one. I'm going to lurk though and see how your game plays out though if you don't mind.

G'luck runners.

Winter

I have the PDF, and am about half way through an excel-based character generator, which I'll probably turn into an interactive webpage later.

So many generators ... need to get working on my standalone SR4CG ... runs off to PM Kagetenshi

I told Fortune just to play the damn game. He's helped me out in other situations and flatters my programming

Would love to see a generator, but it's got to be something I can use at work, which leaves Python based out int he cold.

Well I just finished reading the character rules. They 'seem' simpler till you start playing with the numbers. Its hard to figure out cost when depending on the skill or what point you are buying it to changes the value. I had planned on wiping up a character assistant in excel, similar to my rigger assistant. But I think thats out now.

Since the quality I want says you need GM approval I'll ask, is magic or mystic adept and ok quality to take Dash?

Mytic Adept = A Beautiful Thing

For future reference.

Winter

Mystic Adepts certainly rock, but they definitely take quite some time to grow into real studliness. I've noticed that in SR4 (even more than SR3), it is very easy to spread them too thin.

What do y'all need? I'm looking at bringing in Gypsy, an ex(?)-go-ganger hermetic mage, elven (of course! ).

Hmmm....looks like another heavy magic game then.

I thought it was odd to have 3 adepts (1 of which is a mystic adept) in my SR4 game.

But with Fenris and Buddha72 planning to play an Adept and Mage, Shadow being a Mage or Mystic Adept, and Fortune being a Mage, this game will being even more magically inclined.

I have yet to run an SR4 game that wasn't heavy to magic. I even have a real-world player who spent enough bp to get magic of 4 and then reduced his magic to 1 with cyberware and just doesn't case spells. He's intending to use karma to increase that magic back up and create a super mage

This is why I typically limit Magic in my games. I stick to the, approximately 1% of the population is Awakened rule, and translate that to, "no more than one awakened character per runner team per game". Makes things simpler. Though I will often open a second slot if I feel like it, but never more than two.

Winter

To bad the system doesn't do that inheritanly. It is so incredibly easy to have magic in SR4 everyone should have it. There’s no reason not to, even if its just a one rating, you can always raze it later.

Check the SR4 thread, I made a character helper in excel, extremely rough.

Hey, I'm more than willing to go the non-magical route and bring in a razor. I'd love a chance to port Flare over to SR4.

I'd like to play a private eye/decker type. He'll be sort of a jack of all trades, with some hacking/rigging skills, some social skills, physical skills, and technical skills useful for gathering info, and basic combat ability. I think I'll call him Jack Spade.

Actually, I think there is a reason not to. Essence reductions from cyberware still reduce magic, right? So cybered characters would have to buy it up just to get a rating of one. Besides, ten build points can go a long way. You can get a rating of one in a skill group, for instance.

Sorry Panzergeist, the game is already full before you posted. Feel free to watch for the IC/OOC threads, though, I'm hoping this turns into something that people can use to learn the system.

Ok I am going to read SR4 at work on Monday (slow day for me) so should be able to make a character with Fenris during the early part of next week. Are we posting characters here or emailing them to you?

post the background that people would know here and then email me the full sheet to dashifen (at) dashifen (dot) com. Nice, easy email, all things considered

Are you going to play your infamous rigger, Bhuddha72? At least I think I played a game with you a while back where you were a rigger. Anyway, if so, this mission may include some air travel so if you wanted to metagame a bit and add a nice Pilot Aircraft skill to your character (if it wasn't there before) it might be useful depending on the way you guys attempt the "interception."

Characters by the end of next week would be nice but I understand that new system + new rules + "new" characters = longer character gen period.

I think you may have me confused with someone else, which game are you talking about? The character I've played the most on the boards has been a plucky changeling decker by the name of Iblis. I could make a rigger though, never tried one before so I wouldn't need to unlearn any SR3 rules to do it.

So in light of that put me down as the rigger du jour for this run.

Never mind then If you want to hack, that's up to you, too, but rigging in SR4 is actually much easier. I think the character's name was Buddha, perhaps, then and thus the conusion. It's no problem.

So Dash, are you happier with a razorgirl instead of another awakened character? If so, she's almost ready.

Honestly, either. Fighting in this module depends entirely on how you guys do it. I've had one group that did it with out firing a shot and another group who were a little more ...... messy . Thus, the choice is yours, though, IIRC, there was no strong fighter type in the above declarations.

I choose messyichu!


Has anyone found armor layering rules? I just read the armor section and I don't see any...

I didn't read anything about layering in the book and I just did a quick search in the PDF. The word 'layering' doesn't appear anywhere in the book, nor does the word 'layer' appear in any connection to armor.

That sucks. Ok I think Sundown is done. Hes a mage who uses his abilities to enhance his combat effectivness. I made him using excell to do the math for me so I hope I got it all right. I will send him to you when I clean him up Dash.

Sounds good -- and you're right about layering armor. Only the Armor spell or Adept's Mystic Armor power "layer" armor anymore and their just stackable like before. I suspect we might see a return of layering in a later edition, but, frankly, after six years of playing I could never understand layering in SR3 nor could I ever explain it adequately to players when I needed to so I'm reserving judgement on that change till I have more than three gaming sessions in SR4 under my belt.

Well, my professional thief is almost put together, however I need a workable format to send him in and a good background. Still trying to come up with a name though... I'll see what I can do.

Oh Dash, I would like to point out that Sundown has NO wireless equipment. At all. Only an idiot would have wireless gear on him that could track his movements where ever he went.

Understood as long as you understand that this could hamper his ability to move about. Due to the prevalence of wireless data and the expectation of its availablilty, I think it at least would merit a suspicious modifier for social tests with people who realize that you effectively don't exist in AR.

Also, don't forget that in certain areas the Lone Star and other security officers/drones tend to randomly scan people for data that would be broadcast by a commlink with the thinking that only somebody with something to hide wouldn't be broadcasting such data. Yes the SINless probably don't all have the money to buy commlinks, but those are the only ones that can't afford one and security forces are pretty suspicious of the SINless already. It's just that the lack of a commlink broadcasting data or worse yet the complete lack of a commlink would point out any SINless very easily.

And there doesn't seem to be anything like a cellphone or radio in SR4, because they have become part of the commlink, it might be difficult to stay in touch with people.

I seriously doubt no one carries a cell phone or other non wired gear. It isn't just technology were talking about, its cultural. And culture doesn't change that much in 5 years. With the abundance of dead zones in the game I am sure plenty of people carry non 'wireless' gear.

For the very reason that the Star and other private security companies scan you is the main reason not to be wired. You want the Star knowing whatever SIN your going buy at the time just by looking at you?

How about having a hacker track your every move? I will stick with the incredibly minor inconvenience of not being wired as opposed to being low-jacked.

Why not just carry a Commlink (or whatever), but leave it shut off unless absolutely necessary?

That's where being in hidden mode would be frowned upon, but it sounded to me like you wanted to burn the RFIDs out of your clothing, not have a commlink, avoid designer sunglasses, etc. to create a character who effectively does not exist in the augmented reality (no arrows, you'd still be there of course) and thus, depending on the situation and the person, that could make them suspiscious. I'm not saying the police will be following you down the street waiting for you to do something illegal, just making sure you know it could result in social modifiers depending on the situation.