SR5E: Tell It To Em' Straight (OOC)

[Dave ST]

I want to write, so I propose doing a 'game' of Shadowrun. Most of you know the premise... it's Shadowrun. This forum allows for group runs as well as solo runs where you don't always have a partner at your back (so shoot straight).

THE PREMISE

One angle that is commonly forgotten with Shadowrun is that it can be a very plot driven game.  It's not supposed to be a game about doing jobs and buying gear, those are means to an end.  It's about the life of the character you play and how they make enemies, buy friends and smile as everything and everyone betrays them, and the bullets start flying.  People are broke, dirty, crooked, and everyone is looking out for themselves... even you.  Trust is worth more than a luxurious lifestyle and a fancy new side arm and you must somehow eke out a living in the darkest shadows of the worst sprawls the world has to offer.

As stated previously, the jobs are simply a means to an end.  This game will focus on the characters, not so much the work.  What that means is that while your character will be doing work to keep the lights on, you will often find a lot of work not coming from your fixers or Mr. Johnsons, but from the people from the characters background, the NPCs in and around where the character lives, and, of course, from the enemies you have made along the way.

So, it may look like this:

[Do A Job] --> [Do A Job] --> [Do A Job] --> [Pay Bills] --> [Character Development Story/Plot Point (start)] --> [Character Development/Plot Point (middle)] --> [Character Development/Plot Point (end)] --> [Do a Job]… etc.

Because this is a game focused more on the characters than the fancy toys, the game will begin at a STREET LEVEL.  Meaning that most of your equipment, cyberware/bioware, and Foci, will gradually be getting upgraded as you make or acquire more money.  This tends to have the effect of feeling more ‘earned’ than simple starting with bad ass equipment and never having to upgrade.

As residence of the Sprawl, you do what others won't so you can one day live like others can't.

 

Ready?

The People (Books Allowed):

Core Rule Book (I use the 2nd printing)

Bullets and Bandages (The Biotech Book)

Chrome Flesh (Augmentation Book)

Data Trails (Core Matrix Book)

Kill Code (Advanced Matrix Book)

Street Grimoire (Core Magic Book)

Forbidden Arcana (Advanced Magic Book)

Run & Gun (Core Combat Book)

Street Lethal (Advanced Combat Book)

Run Faster (Core Player Book)

Rigger 5.0 (Core Rigger Book)

Build method is Priority with STREET-LEVEL rules. 13 Karma, 10 max availability ratings, and 5 Karma spent on Nuyen maximum.  Your lifestyle may not begin higher than LOW.

Metahuman Variants are permitted but you will be held to the standards of that variant. If everyone plays a variant, then I will simply strip them away from everyone and you will just play your base metatype (elf, troll, ork). That might sound unfair, but when one opens the gates to diversity everyone suddenly wants to play a special snowflake. When everyone strives to be special, I try and do my part to remind them... they're not. And no centaurs. Period.

No recreating anime characters, comic book characters, movie personalities or your favorite T.V. show hero. This isn't Arrow, or Trigun, or Wanted. While the game mimics high-octane action movies and their accompanying scenes, you are not those people in my setting. Make something interesting and relatively unique (we all know originality is dead, so I'm cutting you some slack).  I understand that there may be overlap with film and literature we're all familiar with, but the essence of the character should be yours.

 

MAGIC & RESONANCE (or How to Blackhammer Friends & Chaos World People)

Magic is rare in my games.  PCs who are Awakened are like unicorns in the Sprawl.  Frankly, there just isn’t a lot of them (Although Adepts are the most common and Mystic Adepts the least common with all others somewhere in between).  NPC-wise, they are rare and as PCs you should know that if a Mage shows up, it’s like the S.W.A.T. Team showing up with a frothing, hungry hellhound as a single Mage ready to rumble can easily obliterate a small group of runners with a single spell.  When Magic arrives, you’re screwed.  Most Wage Mages are not opposed to simply accepting Drain and dropping high powered, one shot spells that obliterate most metahuman minds so they can just call it a day.  Stay frosty and keep your head on a swivel.

On the other side of that coin, this means you will not have to concern yourselves an overabundance of magical security (which is usually a GMs way of saying ‘nope, no way you can get through undetected’), note I said ‘overabundance’ not ‘none at all’.  Most places that warrant it will have some form of magical security.  I just tend not to oversaturate the game with it.

Technomancers are even more rare than Mages.  In fact, you will most likely never encounter an NPC technomancer who isn’t part of the story, or an important NPC.  They’re so rare that that simply aren’t enough of them accounted for the Corps to keep on a payroll, yet.  PC Sourcerers generally are in hiding and need to disguise who and what they are from the general populace, lest someone try to get their hands on them and figure out how they tick.

 

CYBERWARE & BIOWARE

Bioware in the modern Sprawl is prohibitively expensive, so most people stick with purchasing cyberware instead of commissioning a full limb replacement or modification.  For this reason, mostly people with High to Luxury lifestyles tend to have high end bioware in favor of cyberware, especially if it is cultured while the SINless (you) and those like you are left with used or standard grade cyberware within your price range.

However, since most of the SINless know the score, a decent majority of them tend not to be as creeped out by low-Essence or visible cyberware than most of their upper class or ‘civilized’ counterparts.  This makes it somewhat easier on social limits when the PCs are ‘dealing with their own’ or individuals with whom they have good rep (and keep that good rep).

To summarize, cyberware is far more common than bioware and certainly more in a PCs price range and availability.

 

The Setting will be Seattle to start.  I'll accept anyone interested in joining, but I will not do a run with more than 3-5 characters at a time so some of you might not be able to pay the rent all the time.  Good?  Welcome to life in the shadows.

[GDP_ST]

Reviewing material - looking at playing a Mage, Black Magician style.  Might tweak it, but probably going standard Human or Elf (will see what other metavariants are out there).

Also, first.  Losers.

[SalmonMax]

Could do a sneaky assassin type, or perhaps a netrunner of some stripe.

I'll review the books and see what jumps out at me.

[GDP_ST]

If you're an assassin and something jumps out at you, you're doing it wrong.

[SalmonMax]

Ambushed by my own character concept! THE METAHUMANITY!

[Jeremy]

I'm gonna give this some thought. A hacker type or the group's street samurai (maybe bio-samurai for more flavor). Like Max I will review and see.

[Dave ST]

For clarification, ladies and ladies...

I'm not against special snowflake characters, I just feel that not everyone needs to be one (or they aren't special).

[GDP_ST]

Backup concept is a Shapeshifter - Tiger variant, Adept.  He's mainly a hunter / muscle, being dual-natured and with his gifts means he makes a living in his human persona as a critter-hunter / exterminator in places like the Barrens.  Likes this human concept of money and luxury, looking to expand his hunting repertoire.  Naturally, he's off-the-grid as fook.

I actually like this concept, despite Dave trying to ruin it for me  so right now I'm leaning 70% this way.  I'm making both characters to see how it looks once done.

[Anatoly]

I am interested, but last edition of Shadowrun I played was 3rd, with some reading of 4th, so I will have some catching up to do. Could be that I'd be coming in later; first ideas would be an Elementalist of sort (concept, not the limited tradition), probably focusing on weather spells and summoned elementals, who specializes in smuggling data and small but valuable contraband. Potential parkour/city runner.

[Dave ST]

Now that you've essentially done up a profile profile for yourself in the character thread, underneath the spoiler box of your character sheet write a small blurb about your character.  Everything under the box is OOC so we don't need 91 paragraphs describing Red Jenny's boobs or the way her hips sashay when she walks.  2 or 3 paragraphs that best describe WTF is going on with that PC.

If you need an example, I'll add one to Chunin's later.

[GDP_ST]

Pff, you wish I'd write 91 paragraphs about Red Jenny's boobs or the way her hips sashay when she walks.  She ain't no ho.

Though you might think differently if you encounter her at certain times of the year.  Usually every 3-9 weeks, for 5-6 days at a time.  Especially if you smell 'right'.

It's the way she doesn't call you afterwards that really hurts...    Don't take it personally - she's probably just having trouble with her commlink again.  Or you sucked in bed.  Or she'll call next time she has the itch to scratch.  At least you'll have time to recover, right?  Think positive thoughts!

[Dave ST]

Sex that doesn't bother me afterward?  Where do I sign up?

So, this may come as a strange thought, but work with me here...

If you can't reach me in chat you can... here's where it gets weird... post your questions here and I can answer them.

[Courtney Adams]

There.  Added some Shadow-buzz and some OOC info to the sheet

[Dave ST]

I'm most likely going to start this Sunday night or Monday night.  Do keep in mind I'm about 9-12 hours ahead of some of you, at the moment.

[GDP_ST]

Saw this, thought of Chunin.

[Chunin]

Oh, man, I totally forgot I was in that!

[Dave ST]

New jobs are available.

Let me know here which one you're interested it in this thread (remember the other thread is IC so you can use it to gain some intel... IC).  Note I didn't list pay... some jobs pay more than others, obviosly.  As per standard Shadowrun, a Runnner kicks over a decent, good paying run once every few months... until that score comes along they have to make the ends meet... at least until you get some Cred built up.

I have a system for calculating the cost of runs based on rep and credibility (and notoriety).  Meaning some people might have to work harder to keep their bills paid until they get some credibility under them.  Some of you might have burn some Karma for a windfall, we've all done it (and if you haven't, your GMs were really nice to you).

There will be a Check and Balances thread posted later.  In that thread will be the monthly rewards for trading karma for cash, like the market itself, it fluctuates.  It will also list how much Karma will be awarded for side fictions to which rules will also be posted for.  By 'rules', I mean some criteria for posting a fic with the means of getting a reward.  You can't just go to the stuffer shack and then go home and watch the trideo and claim a point of karma.  Sorry, chummer.

I will be reading them, and will be assessing if enemies, or repercussions need to result from the fics.  So don't go blowing up BTL parlors and thinking that just because you did something good no one will be pissed at you for it.

Also.

This is Shadowrun.  Check your moral compass at the door.  You can be a good person and still be a criminal, but no one likes the people that preach about what's right and wrong all the damn time.  People will try, at some point, to kill your character.  I recommend your character kills them first.  This isn't a game about good and evil, law and chaos... it's about criminals doing criminal shit.

[Dave ST]

Anatoly...

Please get with me before you post your character.

[Dave ST]

I'm swamped here.  This should get an update soon.

[Jadzia]

With our current initiatives, poast order looks like this:

Echo: 11+3d6 (22), Jenny: 13+2d6 (20), Jadzia: 7+3d6 (18), Piper: ???

Given the comment on concentration and clear thought while being swarmed with rats, my action at the end might be something like asking the spirit to use Confusion on the rats. Elemental combat magics on the rats swarming over us (while in the water with us) sound like they're out, and probably will have some pretty bad side effects.

[Courtney Adams]

Actually, in her human shape Jenny has an initiative of 17.  Base of 10 plus 7.  20 would be in her feline form.  Which given she's knee deep in vermin, might become a factor soon.  There's only so much stinky, dark, foul-tasting bullshit a tigress can take.

Anywho, Jadzia is up next.

[Dave ST]

So, uhh... who's after Jenny?

Jer are you at a point with your schooling where you have time to contribute?

[Anatoly]

Piper and the rats, I think. Echo > Jadzia > Jenny > rats. Not sure where Piper comes in but likely after Jenny, before rats...

So I think you are up next, Dave.

Then the initiative -10 turn, Echo 12, Jadzia 8, Jenny 7. Echo has a third turn on pass 2, lucky devil.

[Dave ST]

So, if the Rats go on 8 and Echo goes on 12... how can the rats be next?

[Anatoly]

You are right, rats have to wait indeed. If Piper has iniative 13 or more she goes next, else Echo.

 

 

[Mycroft]

5 hours ago, Dave ST said:

So, uhh... who's after Jenny?

Jer are you at a point with your schooling where you have time to contribute?

Here and there, yes.

[Vivi OOC]

Dave has expressed interest in continuing this game when he's able to do so. Although I'm not sure how many people will still be around then, I'm going to do my best to hold this space for him until either that time comes, or he decides to transfer things to another site. Expect to see periodic comments from me here until then. Also, if any of you have questions or comments, feel free to leave them here as well!

[Anatoly]

I will also be holding out for that time!

[Vivi OOC]

We'll see what happens.

[Dave ST]

Shadowrun: The Rebootening.

 

Coming soon.