Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
edited March 2009
Sweet. I'm just glad I saw this thread when I did. Guess I'll get to work on a character. Valkun, would it just be easier if I sent you a straight-up spreadsheet file or what? Methinks sending the character in a PM would be messy. Or maybe just stick a simplified character sheet up here?
And here's the bits from Runner's Companion & Street Magic that you need to know
Fomori - pages 55, 56 & 72, Runners Companion
Fomori are a troll subspecies native to the British Isles. Several studies have established a tentative link between Fomorian expression and Celtic family ancestry. If this is indeed the case, it is likely that formori are not in fact native to the British Isles but rather the result of historical migration. While perhaps once dominant, today the population seems to have diluted to the point where fomori are on par with baseline trolls in demographics, with larger concentrations in Wales, Tir na nÓg and the Southeast of Britain.
Fomori are smaller than typical trolls and lack the extensive dermal bone deposits—this has earned them a misleading reputation as the “frail†cousins of the ingentis species when in fact they tend to be physically more powerful. In fact, fomori benefit from being less intimidating and comparatively more attractive to
other metatypes and are statistically less likely to be targeted by racial prejudice. Both these factors facilitate social insertion and integration, leading to much lower numbers of disenfranchised and maladjusted individuals.
Another peculiarity of the fomori metavariant is exposed by British Administrative Bureau statistics which indicate a higher than average incidence of magical talent among the fomorian population (as much as 4% higher). A controlled study undertaken by the Oxford Royal College of Thaumaturgy in 2048, however, indicates that fomori seem to be demonstrably more resistant to spell effects and magical powers than the average metahuman (with the possible exception of gnomes). The mechanisms and reasons (both genetic and evolutionary) for these apparently contradictory traits are still unknown.
Fomori
Metavariant Cost: 45 BP
Native to the British Isles, fomori can be physically mistaken for young common trolls due to their smaller size. Since they lack dermal deposits, they are often perceived as less daunting than their cousins, but, in fact, they are comparatively more robust and vigorous than they appear. Fomori are also reputed to possess some innate resistance to magic.
Abilities: Arcane Arrester, Metagenetic Improvement (Body), Thermographic Vision, +1 Reach
Arcane Arrester
Cost: 25 BP
When affected by a spell (including a critter’s Innate Spells), the character—and she alone—treats Force-based effects (damage, paralysis, etc.) at half (round down) actual strength. Note that the actual Force of the spell is not actually reduced. For instance, a character with Arcane Arrester targeted by a Force 5 spell would resist it as if it were a Force 2 spell, though the spellcaster could still add hits to improve the effect. Arcane Arrester cannot be combined with Magic Resistance (p. 79, SR4). This quality can be taken by characters with a Magic attribute.
Metagenetic Improvement (Body) just means +1 Body
Fame - Page 97, Runners Companion
Cost: 5 to 15 BP
A character with this quality is famous, not just among the denizens of the shadows but to the general public. However, famous does not necessarily equate to rich—the character may be retired from whatever activity brought her into the public eye, or she might be a down and out has-been. She might be a retired
sport star or a former trid show host. Or, she might still be in the limelight; perhaps she is an acclaimed musician, a well-known blogger, or possesses a popular P2.0 livefeed. Whatever the reason, she has a recognizable public persona that can be as much a hindrance as a boon.
Fame can give the character social privileges: giving her words additional clout, opening doors to restricted social circles and access to the trendiest hot spots. In situations where she can benefit from her high profile and reputation, a Famous character gets a dice pool modifier to Social Skill Tests. This modifier depends on her fame as represented by levels taken in this quality.
When combined with the Day Job quality, Fame also provides a multiplier to the Day Job income.
Note that Fame is a double-edged blade for those who run the shadows. While it is helpful, it also makes the character easily identifiable. Mr. Johnson is unlikely to hire someone who is well known, and other runners may not want to work with someone so recognizable. Also, if the character is very famous, he needs a very good reason to be running the shadows at all. To avoid identification, a famous character can disguise her appearance and create a runner persona (though under this guise she gains no social advantages).
National Fame (10 BP): The character is nationally famous and gets a +4 dice pool modifier to appropriate Social Tests. If the character also possesses the relevant quality, multiply Day Job
income by 5. People around the country recognize the character by face and name almost automatically.
Examples: Best-selling author, popular sports star, face of national media campaign.
Dependent(s) - page 104, Runners Companion
Bonus: 5 to 15 BP
A character with the Dependent quality has a loved one who depends on her for support and aid from time to time. Dependents may include children, parents, a spouse, a sibling, or an old friend. Meeting the needs of a dependent should take up a fair amount of the character’s time, as well as some of the character’s money. The dependent should also be a hindrance in other ways—getting underfoot, sharing living space, involving herself in the character’s affairs, borrowing the car, calling at the most inappropriate moment, etc.
The gamemaster should set the Build Point value of the quality according to the needs of the dependent and the demands those needs place on the character. This quality cannot be bought off with Karma, unless the relation of dependency is first somehow resolved through roleplaying.
For 15 BP, the dependent is close family or a life partner and lives with the character. The dependent is a regular and demanding strain on the character’s time, resources, and availability, and/or requires special care and vigilance detracting from the character’s professional responsibilities.
Examples: large family, elderly parent, ailing grandparent.
Aspected Magician - page 26, Street Magic
Bonus: 5 to 10 BP
An aspected magician is focused in his power, able to perform fine in some categories of magic, yet much worse in everything else. This quality is only available to characters who possess the Magician or Mystic Adept qualities.When a character takes this quality, the player must declare how his magic is aspected. When a character is performing magic that is not favored by his aspect, he suffers a –4 dice pool modifier. There should be an equally fair chance of an aspect occurring as not occurring.
Note that this quality may not be taken with the Incompetent quality (p. 82, SR4) for any magic skills not
covered by the character’s aspect. It is also recommended thatcharacters who also have the Mentor Spirit quality (p. 79, SR4) only be allowed to choose an aspect that fits with their mentor spirit’s advantages and disadvantages.
Listed below are several examples of aspected magic:
Conjuror Aspect (5 BP): The magician is aspected towards spirits. The magician uses the Conjuring skill group and its component skills, but he receives a –4 dice pool modifier to Sorcery, Assensing, Astral Combat, and Enchanting (and to Arcana for anything but ally design).
Short version of character, what other employees might know.
Frankie Fitzgerald is a a crack marksman, originally from Tir na n'Og, recruited by Ares when he was a teenager - and he's a company man through and through. He's got a limited magical gift, but one that is of some use - Thunderbird is his mentor spirit, and approves of how Frankie conducts himself, for all that he can't cast a spell to save himself. Of course, this magical aspect had its downsides too - he had to learn the sniper's art the hard way; a career in the humdrum world of magical security beckoned for Frankie, but he worked hard and got his lucky break.
Frankie spent several years fighting for Ares-aligned sides in the Desert Wars 2 (racking up a record high 209 cold kills), and made a name for himself at the IDEX (International Defense EXpo) in Dubai, when, as part of an Ares weapons calibration promotion, he literally aimed a shot in a parabolic arc over a building to smash a small pot in the plaza on the other side, successfully. For about 4 years, he spent time doing high-level weapons demonstrations for Ares, mixed with protecting the bigwigs, and the occasional counter-intrusion task, taking down numerious dubious people, such as terrorists and shadowrunners.
It was on one of these counter-intrusion jobs that he was caught off guard by a ripped-up Street Sam, who went straight for the maim, severing Frankie's firing arm and slicing finger razors over his eyes. A colleague took the punk down at that point, but Frankie was wrecked. Ares made a big investment in getting him ship-shape, and he's spent six months recovering with his family, getting used to his new fake arm. Following that Frankie was back in on the demonstration circuit, endorsing Ares products, and doing the occasional talk show - but his self-image had taken a hit. While doing this sort of stuff was OK as a vet of the Desert Wars, he was aware of the rumours that he'd gone soft, and has been position for almost a year to be reassigned to the BISHOP program. Finally his perseverance has paid off!
Contacts
Scrap Jones, heavy-metal orc (L:1 C:5)
Merc with his own company; brutal, but cold and business-oriented. Rumors say that Jones earned most of his rather obvious implants from trying to cut his partner out of the profits from a good run. More-informed rumors credit Crow as being that partner. Well-connected, but with obviously dubious intentions regarding information passed along to Crow. Such information is provided purely on a monetary basis.
Officer Smith, human police investigator (L:3 C:3)
Familiar with activities between gangs and corporations. Tends to blackmail those involved into coughing up some extra cash for reduced penalties provided there is no damage to innocent parties. Relationship with Crow is half mutual blackmail, half respect, and half business. Obviously his contact name and real are different, but Smith likes to keep his real name clear and Crow is willing to deal with that.
Lisa, elf mage(L:6 C:3)
Talismonger and general mage. Runs a small business of her own nowadays. Back when Crow was a merc, the two ended up together on a bad run. Crow pulled her ass out of the fire long enough for an AutoDoc housecall, then later tracked down the other runners who bailed on them. The assets he managed to "acquire" from the cowards covered her hospital costs quite nicely. She may not have the best information, but her loyalty is absolute. Her current partner, T'om, doesn't exactly share this dedication.
T'om the Incredible, elf mage(L:2 C:2)
Talismonger learning the business from Lisa and not fond of Crow. Not the most talented mage, but makes a living doing "magic" the old-fashioned way: sleight of hand. Obviously jealous of the relationship between his significant other and Crow despite the fact the two have a purely platonic relationship. Crow puts up with the guy simply because T'om isn't street-scum. Otherwise, Crow would be more than willing to knock T'om down a peg or four.
Crow spent most of his life as a merc for various megacorporations on several continents. At some time or another he's had to gun down most varieties of scum, human or otherwise, and he has a definite affinity for guns and explosions. He's smart but efficient. Why hunt around for keycodes or biometric data when a bit of foamed explosive will open a door with far less effort? He has little time for subtlety when a good light machine gun will remove a crime boss as easily as an extensive and thorough investigation.
That's not to say Crow is amoral. He strictly adheres to his own set of rules, though they may not always be clear to anyone else. One of the more prominent ones is don't push around people who can't push back. This rule came about after spending several years avoiding attempts by megacorps trying to push him into enforcing distasteful policies. Eventually, his explosive responses earned him a bad reputation with megacorps in general, so he simply started his own small business. Whenever a facility needs to be flattened, people who want to send a clear message use Crow. However, those same people must exercise caution. Should Crow determine the action did anything more than harm a rival megacorp, he might choose to do some pro bono demolitions work.
Crow's value to the organization is fairly obvious. He's tough, dedicated, and knows his field. Pretty much anything a soldier can carry, Crow can shoot it, tune it, break it down, build it up, and fix it. He personally owns a wide variety of rather illegal weaponry and his own small machine shop. Crow joined BISHOP because it wanted bad people (or things) taken care of in the worst way and he decided he may as well get paid to do what he loves anyway. So far, Crow has never encountered a problem that couldn't be fixed with a liberal application of explosives or bullets.
Well, except his bad luck in a crunch. Those protective covers for his eyes weren't implanted for show.
Thought you guys deserved a little status report. Right now, I'm thinking of maybe having some sort of light standard action just to get everyone eased into the game and introduced to one another and myself. A sort of everyone meets at the tavern for a quest but with more guns and rioting gangsters burning down city blocks.
The long version of Frankie's background. None of it is classified, so if any other players want to tie in with some, just go for it.
Country Boy
Frankie grew up in rural Tir na n'Og, a Fitzgerald of Laois. Being a fomori made him a bit of an outcast to locals, but family is family; Frankie knew his place and tried his hardest not to stand out too much.
His uncle Frank took a special interest in the quite young troll, and at the age of 10, even took him out on one of his poaching runs in the shadow of the Wolftrap Mountain. It turned out that young Frankie had the eye for a good shot, and thanks to his natural aptitude, catching a bit of fresh game with his uncle became a regular event - to this day his favourite meal is rabbit pie.
What his uncle didn't realise was that Frankie was in no small way aided by his other talent; the latent magical talent within him that gave him some small influence over the spirits. But of course, who checks a troll for magical talent?
Frankie's time in the Tir peaked when he won the junior division of the Leinster championship rifle trials at age 16. Ares Macrotechnology, attempting yet another push into the Tir at the time, were looking for locals to hire to meet legal restrictions, and the recruiter present for the championship, Doug Weston, saw in this young fomori exactly what they needed to boost their local presence.
Doug had a chat with young Frankie about where he saw his career heading, and Frankie clearly had no grand plan, but loved hunting and displayed the sort of character that you'd want in a company man; hard working, loyal and looking to improve. Doug had a chat with Frankie's parents, and shortly afterward Frankie was off to London for some intensive training.
Welcome to Ares Macrotechnology
Frankie's arrival in London was shortly followed by a series of standardised tests, undertaken by all employees. It was at this point that Frankie's natural aptitude for magic became apparent to his employer, which was both a gift, but also an enormous complication - up until this point, Frankie was on the fast track to a high-tech cyberware upgrade or two. The Ares hermetic induction scheme was a wash, and Frankie struggled with his talents, and would've been forced to choose between them had he not by chance been picked out by one of Ares' less common units - a security shaman.
It was through this shaman (Derek Miller) that Frankie learned to make the most of his restricted magical talent; he learned the way of the spirits and how to read them and respect them. It was during this period that the Thunderbird found him and took him under its wing, taking its own hand in developing him from an uncertain youth into a confident soldier and force in the world.
During his time in London, Frankie worked a mix of magical and physical security - his ability to reconnoitre by himself (primarily by means of Watcher spirits) held him in good stead and he commonly got some time away from the office to keep an eye on a meet; many of these missions had a purpose entirely unknown to him, but Frankie is not the one to question these things.
His shining moment came during an attempted shadowrunner raid on the office block he was helping to protect. While they successfully broke in and retrived the package (injuring or killing a number of his colleagues), Frankie's decision to hit the rooftop paid off - every one of the runners suffered a fatal headshot before they'd even reached their transport. From there it was a simple matter of calling in DocWagon to sort out the bodies and retrieve the stolen tech.
Desert Wars
It was when he was sent off to the Desert Wars that Frankie made his professional name. Talking viewers through a planned ambush, succesfully making outrageously unlikely shots for the trid, and his clear
professionalism when it came to his job got him a lot of plaudits from the hardcore fans; particularly among the orc and troll viewers, a major target market for the Wars. It was on the back of his work in the Desert Wars (and the effort he put into learning Arabic) that he was able to lobby for shift to a better paid, less dangerous position - a responsible move for a young father.
Dubai - International Defense Exhibition (IDEX)
Frankie's profile raised to probably its highest point within the industry when he made a name for himself at the IDEX (International Defense EXpo) in Dubai, when, as part of an Ares weapons calibration promotion, he literally aimed a shot in a parabolic arc over a building to smash a small pot in the plaza on the other side, successfully. For about 4 years, he spent time doing high-level weapons demonstrations for Ares, mixed with assignments between conventions protecting the bigwigs, and engaging in the occasional counter-intrusion task, taking down nefarious terrorists and shadowrunners alike.
It was on one of these counter-intrusion jobs that he was caught off guard by a ripped-up Street Sam, who went straight for the maim, severing Frankie's firing arm and slicing finger razors over his eyes. A colleague took the punk down at that point, but Frankie was wrecked. Ares made a big investment in getting him ship-shape, and he's spent six months recovering with his family, getting used to his new fake arm. During this time he's done a few "He's OK, folks" demonstrations, and certainly the new sensory information provided through his Smartlink helps him in his work...but he's got a hurdle to get over - does he still have it?
BISHOP
Eager to prove himself still to be combat-ready after his cybernetic modifications, he's been quietly hinting that he'd like to return to the field, and through his contacts within Ares (particularly his pushy wife looking for a more permanent home for their family), the right people have been convinced that shifting their high-profile company sniper to BISHOP would be a suitable boost to the profile of the new, successful and growing franchise.
Frankie has only been with BISHOP for a week or so, and hasn't been active on a job.
Contacts Megan Basantaray - Corporate Mom
Connection: 4 - Knows many people
Loyalty: 6 - Friend for Life
Frankie's loving wife and mother of 12, Megan is an orc from London thats well and truly an Ares corporate citizen today. When she met Frankie she was a data clerk working at a minor Ares subsidiary, but now she's the driving force behind Frankie's career. While she doesn't have much in the way of power in a traditional sense, the breadth of her connections within the corporate world are unpredictable, if not particularly reliable in any specific area - many of her friends are wifes and partners of Ares corporators.
Doug is the man that discovered Frankie as a young lad some 15 years ago, and both have enjoyed a significant rise in their fortunes since that point, on occasion overlapping. He's not a contact for Frankie to call every day, but he does like to hear about how his guys get on, and when it isn't inconvenient, he'll be happy to put the right word in the right place.
Dependents (details will be added to as events happen)
Mary (14, orc) - talented discus thrower
Connor (14, orc) - learning to play synths
Siobhan (14, orc) - has magical talent, and a grasp for the hermetic
Kenny (12, fomori) - quiet kid, spends a lot of time on the matrix.
Harry (9, orc)
Emily (9, orc)
Cecilia (9, orc)
Larry (7, fomori)
Ophelia (6, fomori) - recently learnt how to use a commlink
Omar (4, orc)
Jack (4, orc)
Xavier (4, orc)
Frankie has a litter. Given his background, I'm going to assign him the rank Specialist on loan from Ares weapons R&D. Might want to keep an eye on him since there's no legal background or knowledge. You'll be directly under Raven in the hierarchy.
I have a question: Who is this "Lieutanent" and why are you going to his office? By tomorrow, I'll have a proper hierarchy set up for you lot. Still getting people trickling in as the day goes on.
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Der Waffle MousBlame this on the misfortune of your birth.New Yark, New Yark.Registered Userregular
Depends on the person. Some say they've only joined within the last week. Others have been around for years.
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Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
edited March 2009
I've never played a pbp before, so I guess we;re going to use this thread to clarify certain aspects of the game? Because currently, we have a bunch of people heading over to report in, but most of us don't really know where or to whom we're reporting. I'm not trying to rush anything, just verify that at this point there is a deliberate halt to progress in order to get a headcount.
Also, I'd like to politely ask for some specifics regarding how headquarters is set up. My guy Crow is currently in the garage, but where is the garage? Is it at the top or bottom of the building? Big or small? Is every floor tiny and dedicated to single purpose (the lab floor, the range floor, etc.) or are things all mixed up?
Or should we go ahead and take some initiative within reason and give some description to places that the GM may not necessarily have the time to reasonably describe? I hesitate to write anything further about the garages because there seem to be a couple more people in there with me. I don't want cause confusion by describing a tiny, cramped garage when in fact the GM later describes a garage spanning an entire floor with plenty of room for several people to all be working in there without seeing each other.
Considering how many people seem to be interested, I have no problem with letting people flesh things out as need be and take some of the workload off of the GM. That's my vote, but obviously I'm not the one running the game; if the GM wants to personally describe everything to keep everything consistent, that's fine with me.
Also, I'm pretty jazzed to see things get moving. Looks like we've already got a nice mix of distinct characters. Really hope we can run things nice and smoothly so we can use some proper combat.
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Der Waffle MousBlame this on the misfortune of your birth.New Yark, New Yark.Registered Userregular
edited March 2009
Basically, you can make shit up within reason, as the specifics on the locations of things at the HQ are fairly inconsequential unless the GM deems it so. Last I remember Bishop was basically a couple of floors of a very tall ares-owned skyscraper. We have all of the amenities your standard police headquarters has, plus things like a computer mainframe and a state-of-the-art briefing room.
In your case, since the rest of this is essentially a corporate office building, I think it'd be safe to assume that there would be a general parking garage where the team's private vehicles are, plus a garage meant for Bishop and possibly Knight Errant use.
Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
edited March 2009
Ah, good. That means there would indeed be a maintenance-oriented garage (the BISHOP garage) and a secured general garage where I would park my van. For the sake of having coolness, I'm going to assume the garages are just underneath the main facility and utilize sweet future-elevators to move vehicles up and down the side of the skyscraper. Plus, it doesn't make Crow look dumb for deciding to take the stairs for a hundred-story climb. :P
Thus, even though both Key and Crow are both in garages, they would likely be in separate garages since Key is working on her bike and Crow is working in his van and they are both right below where they need to go. Yes, I know, minor details, but details like this makes it easier for me to have a real mental picture of the place. Don't worry, I won't be crazy critical and whiny if we don't get exact descriptions of every place we go; I just don't want to overstep my bounds and muddle things for other people.
Sorry, got roped into being busy all day Friday. I'll go over everyone's character and finalize things tomorrow. I think we've got everyone who's still interested in playing. I'll also try to clarify a few things *cough*mysterious non-existant Lieutanent*cough*, especially about the building. Some of the player descriptions were going a little overboard in my opinion.
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Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
Sorry, got roped into being busy all day Friday. I'll go over everyone's character and finalize things tomorrow. I think we've got everyone who's still interested in playing. I'll also try to clarify a few things *cough*mysterious non-existent Lieutenant*cough*, especially about the building. Some of the player descriptions were going a little overboard in my opinion.
No worries; considering how this is all going down, I don't really expect the game to move particularly quickly.
Also, point taken about over-exposition. In the absence of clear guidelines, I was just trying to add some character, y'know? I certainly don't want to be overshadowing folks who may not need to or wish to put out more about their characters (or the scenery, for that matter).
JC, unless I missed it somewhere, your character seems to be missing any sort of history or description. Former Lonestar Cop who went detective is fine for a concept, but I'd like to see something a little more fleshed out on my desk.
Also, is Key a first name, an only name, or what I assume is a nickname? Everyone on the team should have an identity beyond just their callsign. After all, you're all responsible, legal, UCAS citizens.
Since Der Waffle Why was the only player to take any points in Rank, she is the "leader" of your merry band of thugs and villains parading as respectable police officers. Unless you want to hear a bunch of "I'm throwning you off the force", "You're off the case", "I'll have your badge", and other police cliches, it'd probably be best to show some restraint.
For the time being, those characters I posted in the IC opening post are our players. Sorry to those who showed interest but didn't get anything submitted. Apologies for the delay, but the show can now begin!
I don't normally come up with giant backgrounds for people.
Gino had a mostly normal life I figure and joined Lonestar initially just as a job and a way to legally escape wage-slaving. After paying his dues on the beat he was trained as a hostage negotiator based on his entrance exams. After Bloody New Years he quit Lonestar and went freelance a a PI where he developed some contacts and a drinking problem. He is an only child and his parents are dead so he uses his coworkers as a surrogate family but mostly just as a crutch so he can keep drinking.
Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
edited March 2009
So I've got to buy a few minor bits of gear (mapsoft, holsters, etc.), but I'm not particularly sure where I should put something like that. I figure I'll stick it in a spoiler in the IC thread for now since it's not necessarily story-related stuff, but won't look like I'm pulling stuff out of nowhere that wasn't included in my character profile. Also, I forgot to state I had a single BP left from character creation and I'm just going to convert it to straight nuyen to start myself off with five grand.
Don't expect the company to furnish you with anything you haven't bought yourself. On the plus side, you'll usually be given extra money to "restock" as you see fit when you get downtime.
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Der Waffle MousBlame this on the misfortune of your birth.New Yark, New Yark.Registered Userregular
So I've got to buy a few minor bits of gear (mapsoft, holsters, etc.), but I'm not particularly sure where I should put something like that. I figure I'll stick it in a spoiler in the IC thread for now since it's not necessarily story-related stuff, but won't look like I'm pulling stuff out of nowhere that wasn't included in my character profile. Also, I forgot to state I had a single BP left from character creation and I'm just going to convert it to straight nuyen to start myself off with five grand.
You don't start off with straight nuyen from the BP, it adds a bonus to the money you gain from your starting lifestyle if I recall.
Edit: not to say that you can't just retcon the extra stuff into your equipment, just that you don't get to keep all of what you didn't spend.
Don't expect the company to furnish you with anything you haven't bought yourself. On the plus side, you'll usually be given extra money to "restock" as you see fit when you get downtime.
I figured my guy would rather use his own gear anyway, which is why I have a personal armory instead of just a personal weapon. This makes me think of something, though. Crow knows his business when it comes to working with weapons and armor, so would it be reasonable for him to do upgrades and maintenance for the rest of the team (for a small fee, of course)? Or would this simply be something to leave up to the discretion of the people in-game?
Obviously no crazy stuff like hold-out pistols which shoot grenades. Just normal activities like installing upgrades for folks or trying pack some extra performance into a weapon.
You don't start off with straight nuyen from the BP, it adds a bonus to the money you gain from your starting lifestyle if I recall.
Yeah, I know, but I was going by the guidelines given to us from the old Bishop game. One of them is using money left over from getting resources and since I only had one extra BP left, I figured I'd just convert it straight into the minimum 5000 we're supposed to have. I figured it would be the simplest thing to do since I needed to get a balance going and we're supposed to have a minimum 5000 anyway. Plus, it makes it simpler than saddling the GM with doing random rolls plus extra hits with money left over for resource acquisition to see how much cash I start with.
If the rules are completely different for this game, I'm totally fine with that and would be perfectly willing to accept a random amount of nuyen from the GM based on my lifestyle. There were just a few things I overlooked/didn't know about and wanted to get them taken care of before I forgot.
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Der Waffle MousBlame this on the misfortune of your birth.New Yark, New Yark.Registered Userregular
Don't expect the company to furnish you with anything you haven't bought yourself. On the plus side, you'll usually be given extra money to "restock" as you see fit when you get downtime.
Ah. In that case I have some back-up equipment purchasing to do.
As I forgt to take the SINner disadvantage, any problem with converting that into gear like armor, shotgun, etc?
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Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
Don't expect the company to furnish you with anything you haven't bought yourself. On the plus side, you'll usually be given extra money to "restock" as you see fit when you get downtime.
Ah. In that case I have some back-up equipment purchasing to do.
As I forgot to take the SINner disadvantage, any problem with converting that into gear like armor, shotgun, etc?
If we're going to use extended tests (which I can very well see us skipping over due to the nature of how we're playing), then unless we're getting sent on this run several days from now we're not likely to get much in the way of equipment in time for the run itself. Technically, buying anything not included is supposed to be subject to availability vs. an extended tests. The softs and the biomonitor I bought are available immediately due to being downloadable or extremely common while the satellite link for my comm unit could theoretically take a couple days to dig up.
However, I've got equipment coming out of my ears. I imagine most of the armors I have won't necessarily fit your troll but Crow's equipment, save for custom-fit things like the full armor and the helmet, is supposed to be all human-normal since he's both strong enough and experienced enough to use weapons not designed for someone his size. I could likely loan (or rent :winky:) out one of my many weapons and I don't think armor vests (of which I have one, though I won't be using it) being adjustable would be stretching things too far. I could likely loan also loan the armor jacket I have to someone human-sized.
Of course, that all assumes we're being somewhat strict in the application of rules and holding people to exactly what they did during character creation. I'm betting there will be some leniency at the beginning in favor of making sure nobody screws themselves over and dies on the first run.
I do like the idea of renting out equipment, though.
Oh, sure. This is just retroactive purchasing of stuff I figure Frankie would already have. ie. full body armor with thermal dampening, and a shotgun for backup. I'm not asking to suddenly buy `anti-quillcat rounds' or similar
Managed to juggle so as not to take SINner, which would feel kind of cheesy for a wageslave. I'm treating the Ares Thunderbird sniper rifle as the most recent purchase (which makes sense considering Frankie is attached to Ares R&D). Only changes made below are that now all relevant gear is purchased.
Attribute Costs - TOTAL: 220bp
Body 6 to 7: 10bp
Agi 1 to 4: 30BP
Rea 1 to 3: 20bp
Str 5:0bp
Cha 1 to 3: 20bp
Intuition 1 to 3: 20bp
Logic 1 to 3: 20bp
Willpower 1 to 5: 40bp
Essence: 5
Magic: 1 to 6 (down to 5 due to cyberware): 60bp
Posts
Attributes (220bp)
Body: 7
Agi: 4
Rea: 3
Str: 5
Cha: 3
Int: 3
Log: 3
Will: 5
Ess: 5.06
Mag: 5
Active Skills (126 BP)
Armorer (Rifles): 1 (+2)
Conjuring Skill Group: 4
Etiquette (Corporate): 4 (+2)
Infiltration (Urban): 3 (+2)
Instruction (Combat): 1 (+2)
Intimidation: 1 (+2 from Thunderbird)
Longarms (Sniper Rifles): 7 (+2)
Unarmed Combat: 1
Knowledge Skills - 18 FREE BP
Ares Macrotechnology: 5
Geography: 2
Kids Entertainment: 1
Physics: 3
Spirits: 3
Language Skills
English: N
Arabic: 4
Qualities (25 BP)
Aptitude: Longarms (-10bp)
Fame: International (-15bp)
Magician (-15bp)
Mentor Spirit: Thunderbird (-5bp)
Aspected Magician: Conjuror (+5bp)
Dependents: Large Family (+15bp)
Contacts - TOTAL 18
Megan Basantaray - Corporate Mom (Connection 3/Loyalty 6)
Doug Weston - Corporate Executive (Connection 6/Loyalty 3)
GEAR - 80000 (600 remaining)
Lifestyle - High Lifestyle (23000 per month)
Wife + 12 kids = x2.3 cost modifier
Cyberware - TOTAL COST - 0.94 Essence, 44000
Cybereyes Rating 2 - 0.24 - 750
- Smartlink [3] - 1000
- Flare Compensation [1] - 750
- Thermographic Vision [2] - 1000
- Vision Magnification [2] - 1000
Cyberlimb (A) - Obvious, Right Arm - 0.7 - 20000
- Cyberarm Gyromount - [4] - 12000
- Shock Hand - [3] - 2000
- Large Smuggling Compartment - [5] - 4000
- Enhanced Strength (to 6) - [3] - 1500
Weapon
Ares Thunderbird (aka Ranger Arms SM-4) - 6200
- Smartlinked (+6200)
And here's the bits from Runner's Companion & Street Magic that you need to know
Fomori - pages 55, 56 & 72, Runners Companion
Fomori are a troll subspecies native to the British Isles. Several studies have established a tentative link between Fomorian expression and Celtic family ancestry. If this is indeed the case, it is likely that formori are not in fact native to the British Isles but rather the result of historical migration. While perhaps once dominant, today the population seems to have diluted to the point where fomori are on par with baseline trolls in demographics, with larger concentrations in Wales, Tir na nÓg and the Southeast of Britain.
Fomori are smaller than typical trolls and lack the extensive dermal bone deposits—this has earned them a misleading reputation as the “frail†cousins of the ingentis species when in fact they tend to be physically more powerful. In fact, fomori benefit from being less intimidating and comparatively more attractive to
other metatypes and are statistically less likely to be targeted by racial prejudice. Both these factors facilitate social insertion and integration, leading to much lower numbers of disenfranchised and maladjusted individuals.
Another peculiarity of the fomori metavariant is exposed by British Administrative Bureau statistics which indicate a higher than average incidence of magical talent among the fomorian population (as much as 4% higher). A controlled study undertaken by the Oxford Royal College of Thaumaturgy in 2048, however, indicates that fomori seem to be demonstrably more resistant to spell effects and magical powers than the average metahuman (with the possible exception of gnomes). The mechanisms and reasons (both genetic and evolutionary) for these apparently contradictory traits are still unknown.
Fomori
Metavariant Cost: 45 BP
Native to the British Isles, fomori can be physically mistaken for young common trolls due to their smaller size. Since they lack dermal deposits, they are often perceived as less daunting than their cousins, but, in fact, they are comparatively more robust and vigorous than they appear. Fomori are also reputed to possess some innate resistance to magic.
Abilities: Arcane Arrester, Metagenetic Improvement (Body), Thermographic Vision, +1 Reach
Arcane Arrester
Cost: 25 BP
When affected by a spell (including a critter’s Innate Spells), the character—and she alone—treats Force-based effects (damage, paralysis, etc.) at half (round down) actual strength. Note that the actual Force of the spell is not actually reduced. For instance, a character with Arcane Arrester targeted by a Force 5 spell would resist it as if it were a Force 2 spell, though the spellcaster could still add hits to improve the effect. Arcane Arrester cannot be combined with Magic Resistance (p. 79, SR4). This quality can be taken by characters with a Magic attribute.
Metagenetic Improvement (Body) just means +1 Body
Fame - Page 97, Runners Companion
Cost: 5 to 15 BP
A character with this quality is famous, not just among the denizens of the shadows but to the general public. However, famous does not necessarily equate to rich—the character may be retired from whatever activity brought her into the public eye, or she might be a down and out has-been. She might be a retired
sport star or a former trid show host. Or, she might still be in the limelight; perhaps she is an acclaimed musician, a well-known blogger, or possesses a popular P2.0 livefeed. Whatever the reason, she has a recognizable public persona that can be as much a hindrance as a boon.
Fame can give the character social privileges: giving her words additional clout, opening doors to restricted social circles and access to the trendiest hot spots. In situations where she can benefit from her high profile and reputation, a Famous character gets a dice pool modifier to Social Skill Tests. This modifier depends on her fame as represented by levels taken in this quality.
When combined with the Day Job quality, Fame also provides a multiplier to the Day Job income.
Note that Fame is a double-edged blade for those who run the shadows. While it is helpful, it also makes the character easily identifiable. Mr. Johnson is unlikely to hire someone who is well known, and other runners may not want to work with someone so recognizable. Also, if the character is very famous, he needs a very good reason to be running the shadows at all. To avoid identification, a famous character can disguise her appearance and create a runner persona (though under this guise she gains no social advantages).
National Fame (10 BP): The character is nationally famous and gets a +4 dice pool modifier to appropriate Social Tests. If the character also possesses the relevant quality, multiply Day Job
income by 5. People around the country recognize the character by face and name almost automatically.
Examples: Best-selling author, popular sports star, face of national media campaign.
Dependent(s) - page 104, Runners Companion
Bonus: 5 to 15 BP
A character with the Dependent quality has a loved one who depends on her for support and aid from time to time. Dependents may include children, parents, a spouse, a sibling, or an old friend. Meeting the needs of a dependent should take up a fair amount of the character’s time, as well as some of the character’s money. The dependent should also be a hindrance in other ways—getting underfoot, sharing living space, involving herself in the character’s affairs, borrowing the car, calling at the most inappropriate moment, etc.
The gamemaster should set the Build Point value of the quality according to the needs of the dependent and the demands those needs place on the character. This quality cannot be bought off with Karma, unless the relation of dependency is first somehow resolved through roleplaying.
For 15 BP, the dependent is close family or a life partner and lives with the character. The dependent is a regular and demanding strain on the character’s time, resources, and availability, and/or requires special care and vigilance detracting from the character’s professional responsibilities.
Examples: large family, elderly parent, ailing grandparent.
Aspected Magician - page 26, Street Magic
Bonus: 5 to 10 BP
An aspected magician is focused in his power, able to perform fine in some categories of magic, yet much worse in everything else. This quality is only available to characters who possess the Magician or Mystic Adept qualities.When a character takes this quality, the player must declare how his magic is aspected. When a character is performing magic that is not favored by his aspect, he suffers a –4 dice pool modifier. There should be an equally fair chance of an aspect occurring as not occurring.
Note that this quality may not be taken with the Incompetent quality (p. 82, SR4) for any magic skills not
covered by the character’s aspect. It is also recommended thatcharacters who also have the Mentor Spirit quality (p. 79, SR4) only be allowed to choose an aspect that fits with their mentor spirit’s advantages and disadvantages.
Listed below are several examples of aspected magic:
Conjuror Aspect (5 BP): The magician is aspected towards spirits. The magician uses the Conjuring skill group and its component skills, but he receives a –4 dice pool modifier to Sorcery, Assensing, Astral Combat, and Enchanting (and to Arcana for anything but ally design).
Short version of character, what other employees might know.
Frankie Fitzgerald is a a crack marksman, originally from Tir na n'Og, recruited by Ares when he was a teenager - and he's a company man through and through. He's got a limited magical gift, but one that is of some use - Thunderbird is his mentor spirit, and approves of how Frankie conducts himself, for all that he can't cast a spell to save himself. Of course, this magical aspect had its downsides too - he had to learn the sniper's art the hard way; a career in the humdrum world of magical security beckoned for Frankie, but he worked hard and got his lucky break.
Frankie spent several years fighting for Ares-aligned sides in the Desert Wars 2 (racking up a record high 209 cold kills), and made a name for himself at the IDEX (International Defense EXpo) in Dubai, when, as part of an Ares weapons calibration promotion, he literally aimed a shot in a parabolic arc over a building to smash a small pot in the plaza on the other side, successfully. For about 4 years, he spent time doing high-level weapons demonstrations for Ares, mixed with protecting the bigwigs, and the occasional counter-intrusion task, taking down numerious dubious people, such as terrorists and shadowrunners.
It was on one of these counter-intrusion jobs that he was caught off guard by a ripped-up Street Sam, who went straight for the maim, severing Frankie's firing arm and slicing finger razors over his eyes. A colleague took the punk down at that point, but Frankie was wrecked. Ares made a big investment in getting him ship-shape, and he's spent six months recovering with his family, getting used to his new fake arm. Following that Frankie was back in on the demonstration circuit, endorsing Ares products, and doing the occasional talk show - but his self-image had taken a hit. While doing this sort of stuff was OK as a vet of the Desert Wars, he was aware of the rumours that he'd gone soft, and has been position for almost a year to be reassigned to the BISHOP program. Finally his perseverance has paid off!
Mundane
Attributes
Body: 4
Agility: 5
Reaction: 4 (6)
Strength: 4
Charisma: 2
Intuition: 5
Logic: 4
Willpower: 2
Edge: 3
Initiative: 11
Essence: 2.6
Knowledge Skills
English : N
Chemistry : 2
Engineering (Mechanical) : 3
Military : 3
Mercenary Hangouts : 3
Firearms : 5
Parazoology : 2
Smuggling routes : 2
Business : 2
Japanese : 3
Active Skills
Automatics (Assault rifles) : 5
Heavy Weapons : 4
Longarms (Shotguns) : 4
Pistols : 4
Perception (Visual) : 3
Running : 1
Climbing : 1
Armorer (Firearms) : 5
Demolitions (Improvised) : 4
Blades (Knives) : 1
Automotive Mechanic (Wheeled) : 2
First Aid (Combat Wounds) : 2
Positive Qualities
Guts
Toughness
Negative Qualities
Bad Luck
Wired Reflexes (Rating 2)
Cybereyes Basic System (Rating 3)
Flare Compensation
Low-Light Vision
Protective Covers
Smartlink
Thermographic Vision
Vision Magnification
Vision Enhancement (Rating 2)
Biowares
Weapons
Knife
Raecor Sting
Hammerli 620S
Ruger Super Warhawk
Remington Roomsweeper
AK-97 Carabine
AK-97
Ares Alpha
Walter MA-2100
Bipod
Ceska Black Scorpion
Stoner Ares M202
Tripod
Gas-Vent 3 System
Smartgun System, external
Ares Antioch-2
Airburst Link
30x Spare Clips
4x Speed Loader
4x High Explosive Grenades
20x Detonator Cap
5x Foam Explosives (per kg) Rating 4
5x Plastic Explosives (per kg) Rating 9
5x Smoke
5x High Explosive Grenades
5x Fragmentation
50x APDS (10 shots)
20x Flechette Rounds (10 shots)
100x Regular Ammo (10 shots)
100x Regular Ammo (10 shots)
20x Explosive Rounds (10 shots)
Armors
Armor Jacket
Armor Vest
Full Body Armor
Helmet (for Full Body Armor)
5x Armor Clothing
5x Clothing (Regular)
Leather Jacket
Vehicles
GMC Bulldog (Van)
Commlinks
Printer
Commlink : CMT Clip
Equipments
Shop
Fake Sin (Rating 6)
4x Stimulant Patch (Rating 4)
2x Medkit Supplies
2x Medkit (Rating 4)
Respirator (Rating 4)
Wire clippers
Miniwelder
Maglock (Rating 6)
+ Anti-Tamper Circuits (Rating 3)
Certified Credstick (Silver)
Certified Credstick (Gold)
Certified Credstick (Standard)
DocWagon Contract (Gold - per Year)
Tool Kit
4x Fake License (Rating 6)
Fake Sin (Rating 5)
Fake Sin (Rating 2)
Scrap Jones, heavy-metal orc (L:1 C:5)
Merc with his own company; brutal, but cold and business-oriented. Rumors say that Jones earned most of his rather obvious implants from trying to cut his partner out of the profits from a good run. More-informed rumors credit Crow as being that partner. Well-connected, but with obviously dubious intentions regarding information passed along to Crow. Such information is provided purely on a monetary basis.
Officer Smith, human police investigator (L:3 C:3)
Familiar with activities between gangs and corporations. Tends to blackmail those involved into coughing up some extra cash for reduced penalties provided there is no damage to innocent parties. Relationship with Crow is half mutual blackmail, half respect, and half business. Obviously his contact name and real are different, but Smith likes to keep his real name clear and Crow is willing to deal with that.
Lisa, elf mage(L:6 C:3)
Talismonger and general mage. Runs a small business of her own nowadays. Back when Crow was a merc, the two ended up together on a bad run. Crow pulled her ass out of the fire long enough for an AutoDoc housecall, then later tracked down the other runners who bailed on them. The assets he managed to "acquire" from the cowards covered her hospital costs quite nicely. She may not have the best information, but her loyalty is absolute. Her current partner, T'om, doesn't exactly share this dedication.
T'om the Incredible, elf mage(L:2 C:2)
Talismonger learning the business from Lisa and not fond of Crow. Not the most talented mage, but makes a living doing "magic" the old-fashioned way: sleight of hand. Obviously jealous of the relationship between his significant other and Crow despite the fact the two have a purely platonic relationship. Crow puts up with the guy simply because T'om isn't street-scum. Otherwise, Crow would be more than willing to knock T'om down a peg or four.
Crow spent most of his life as a merc for various megacorporations on several continents. At some time or another he's had to gun down most varieties of scum, human or otherwise, and he has a definite affinity for guns and explosions. He's smart but efficient. Why hunt around for keycodes or biometric data when a bit of foamed explosive will open a door with far less effort? He has little time for subtlety when a good light machine gun will remove a crime boss as easily as an extensive and thorough investigation.
That's not to say Crow is amoral. He strictly adheres to his own set of rules, though they may not always be clear to anyone else. One of the more prominent ones is don't push around people who can't push back. This rule came about after spending several years avoiding attempts by megacorps trying to push him into enforcing distasteful policies. Eventually, his explosive responses earned him a bad reputation with megacorps in general, so he simply started his own small business. Whenever a facility needs to be flattened, people who want to send a clear message use Crow. However, those same people must exercise caution. Should Crow determine the action did anything more than harm a rival megacorp, he might choose to do some pro bono demolitions work.
Crow's value to the organization is fairly obvious. He's tough, dedicated, and knows his field. Pretty much anything a soldier can carry, Crow can shoot it, tune it, break it down, build it up, and fix it. He personally owns a wide variety of rather illegal weaponry and his own small machine shop. Crow joined BISHOP because it wanted bad people (or things) taken care of in the worst way and he decided he may as well get paid to do what he loves anyway. So far, Crow has never encountered a problem that couldn't be fixed with a liberal application of explosives or bullets.
Well, except his bad luck in a crunch. Those protective covers for his eyes weren't implanted for show.
Expect an IC thread within the next few hours.
It's a start.
Country Boy
Frankie grew up in rural Tir na n'Og, a Fitzgerald of Laois. Being a fomori made him a bit of an outcast to locals, but family is family; Frankie knew his place and tried his hardest not to stand out too much.
His uncle Frank took a special interest in the quite young troll, and at the age of 10, even took him out on one of his poaching runs in the shadow of the Wolftrap Mountain. It turned out that young Frankie had the eye for a good shot, and thanks to his natural aptitude, catching a bit of fresh game with his uncle became a regular event - to this day his favourite meal is rabbit pie.
What his uncle didn't realise was that Frankie was in no small way aided by his other talent; the latent magical talent within him that gave him some small influence over the spirits. But of course, who checks a troll for magical talent?
Frankie's time in the Tir peaked when he won the junior division of the Leinster championship rifle trials at age 16. Ares Macrotechnology, attempting yet another push into the Tir at the time, were looking for locals to hire to meet legal restrictions, and the recruiter present for the championship, Doug Weston, saw in this young fomori exactly what they needed to boost their local presence.
Doug had a chat with young Frankie about where he saw his career heading, and Frankie clearly had no grand plan, but loved hunting and displayed the sort of character that you'd want in a company man; hard working, loyal and looking to improve. Doug had a chat with Frankie's parents, and shortly afterward Frankie was off to London for some intensive training.
Welcome to Ares Macrotechnology
Frankie's arrival in London was shortly followed by a series of standardised tests, undertaken by all employees. It was at this point that Frankie's natural aptitude for magic became apparent to his employer, which was both a gift, but also an enormous complication - up until this point, Frankie was on the fast track to a high-tech cyberware upgrade or two. The Ares hermetic induction scheme was a wash, and Frankie struggled with his talents, and would've been forced to choose between them had he not by chance been picked out by one of Ares' less common units - a security shaman.
It was through this shaman (Derek Miller) that Frankie learned to make the most of his restricted magical talent; he learned the way of the spirits and how to read them and respect them. It was during this period that the Thunderbird found him and took him under its wing, taking its own hand in developing him from an uncertain youth into a confident soldier and force in the world.
During his time in London, Frankie worked a mix of magical and physical security - his ability to reconnoitre by himself (primarily by means of Watcher spirits) held him in good stead and he commonly got some time away from the office to keep an eye on a meet; many of these missions had a purpose entirely unknown to him, but Frankie is not the one to question these things.
His shining moment came during an attempted shadowrunner raid on the office block he was helping to protect. While they successfully broke in and retrived the package (injuring or killing a number of his colleagues), Frankie's decision to hit the rooftop paid off - every one of the runners suffered a fatal headshot before they'd even reached their transport. From there it was a simple matter of calling in DocWagon to sort out the bodies and retrieve the stolen tech.
Desert Wars
It was when he was sent off to the Desert Wars that Frankie made his professional name. Talking viewers through a planned ambush, succesfully making outrageously unlikely shots for the trid, and his clear
professionalism when it came to his job got him a lot of plaudits from the hardcore fans; particularly among the orc and troll viewers, a major target market for the Wars. It was on the back of his work in the Desert Wars (and the effort he put into learning Arabic) that he was able to lobby for shift to a better paid, less dangerous position - a responsible move for a young father.
Dubai - International Defense Exhibition (IDEX)
Frankie's profile raised to probably its highest point within the industry when he made a name for himself at the IDEX (International Defense EXpo) in Dubai, when, as part of an Ares weapons calibration promotion, he literally aimed a shot in a parabolic arc over a building to smash a small pot in the plaza on the other side, successfully. For about 4 years, he spent time doing high-level weapons demonstrations for Ares, mixed with assignments between conventions protecting the bigwigs, and engaging in the occasional counter-intrusion task, taking down nefarious terrorists and shadowrunners alike.
It was on one of these counter-intrusion jobs that he was caught off guard by a ripped-up Street Sam, who went straight for the maim, severing Frankie's firing arm and slicing finger razors over his eyes. A colleague took the punk down at that point, but Frankie was wrecked. Ares made a big investment in getting him ship-shape, and he's spent six months recovering with his family, getting used to his new fake arm. During this time he's done a few "He's OK, folks" demonstrations, and certainly the new sensory information provided through his Smartlink helps him in his work...but he's got a hurdle to get over - does he still have it?
BISHOP
Eager to prove himself still to be combat-ready after his cybernetic modifications, he's been quietly hinting that he'd like to return to the field, and through his contacts within Ares (particularly his pushy wife looking for a more permanent home for their family), the right people have been convinced that shifting their high-profile company sniper to BISHOP would be a suitable boost to the profile of the new, successful and growing franchise.
Frankie has only been with BISHOP for a week or so, and hasn't been active on a job.
Contacts
Megan Basantaray - Corporate Mom
Connection: 4 - Knows many people
Loyalty: 6 - Friend for Life
Frankie's loving wife and mother of 12, Megan is an orc from London thats well and truly an Ares corporate citizen today. When she met Frankie she was a data clerk working at a minor Ares subsidiary, but now she's the driving force behind Frankie's career. While she doesn't have much in the way of power in a traditional sense, the breadth of her connections within the corporate world are unpredictable, if not particularly reliable in any specific area - many of her friends are wifes and partners of Ares corporators.
Doug Weston - Corporate Executive
Connection: 6 - Well-connected
Loyalty: 3 - Acquaintance
Doug is the man that discovered Frankie as a young lad some 15 years ago, and both have enjoyed a significant rise in their fortunes since that point, on occasion overlapping. He's not a contact for Frankie to call every day, but he does like to hear about how his guys get on, and when it isn't inconvenient, he'll be happy to put the right word in the right place.
Dependents (details will be added to as events happen)
Mary (14, orc) - talented discus thrower
Connor (14, orc) - learning to play synths
Siobhan (14, orc) - has magical talent, and a grasp for the hermetic
Kenny (12, fomori) - quiet kid, spends a lot of time on the matrix.
Harry (9, orc)
Emily (9, orc)
Cecilia (9, orc)
Larry (7, fomori)
Ophelia (6, fomori) - recently learnt how to use a commlink
Omar (4, orc)
Jack (4, orc)
Xavier (4, orc)
Also, I'd like to politely ask for some specifics regarding how headquarters is set up. My guy Crow is currently in the garage, but where is the garage? Is it at the top or bottom of the building? Big or small? Is every floor tiny and dedicated to single purpose (the lab floor, the range floor, etc.) or are things all mixed up?
Or should we go ahead and take some initiative within reason and give some description to places that the GM may not necessarily have the time to reasonably describe? I hesitate to write anything further about the garages because there seem to be a couple more people in there with me. I don't want cause confusion by describing a tiny, cramped garage when in fact the GM later describes a garage spanning an entire floor with plenty of room for several people to all be working in there without seeing each other.
Considering how many people seem to be interested, I have no problem with letting people flesh things out as need be and take some of the workload off of the GM. That's my vote, but obviously I'm not the one running the game; if the GM wants to personally describe everything to keep everything consistent, that's fine with me.
Also, I'm pretty jazzed to see things get moving. Looks like we've already got a nice mix of distinct characters. Really hope we can run things nice and smoothly so we can use some proper combat.
In your case, since the rest of this is essentially a corporate office building, I think it'd be safe to assume that there would be a general parking garage where the team's private vehicles are, plus a garage meant for Bishop and possibly Knight Errant use.
Thus, even though both Key and Crow are both in garages, they would likely be in separate garages since Key is working on her bike and Crow is working in his van and they are both right below where they need to go. Yes, I know, minor details, but details like this makes it easier for me to have a real mental picture of the place. Don't worry, I won't be crazy critical and whiny if we don't get exact descriptions of every place we go; I just don't want to overstep my bounds and muddle things for other people.
No worries; considering how this is all going down, I don't really expect the game to move particularly quickly.
Also, point taken about over-exposition. In the absence of clear guidelines, I was just trying to add some character, y'know? I certainly don't want to be overshadowing folks who may not need to or wish to put out more about their characters (or the scenery, for that matter).
Also, is Key a first name, an only name, or what I assume is a nickname? Everyone on the team should have an identity beyond just their callsign. After all, you're all responsible, legal, UCAS citizens.
For the time being, those characters I posted in the IC opening post are our players. Sorry to those who showed interest but didn't get anything submitted. Apologies for the delay, but the show can now begin!
Gino had a mostly normal life I figure and joined Lonestar initially just as a job and a way to legally escape wage-slaving. After paying his dues on the beat he was trained as a hostage negotiator based on his entrance exams. After Bloody New Years he quit Lonestar and went freelance a a PI where he developed some contacts and a drinking problem. He is an only child and his parents are dead so he uses his coworkers as a surrogate family but mostly just as a crutch so he can keep drinking.
He dresses like Columbo and looks like John Constantine.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
Edit: not to say that you can't just retcon the extra stuff into your equipment, just that you don't get to keep all of what you didn't spend.
I figured my guy would rather use his own gear anyway, which is why I have a personal armory instead of just a personal weapon. This makes me think of something, though. Crow knows his business when it comes to working with weapons and armor, so would it be reasonable for him to do upgrades and maintenance for the rest of the team (for a small fee, of course)? Or would this simply be something to leave up to the discretion of the people in-game?
Obviously no crazy stuff like hold-out pistols which shoot grenades. Just normal activities like installing upgrades for folks or trying pack some extra performance into a weapon.
Yeah, I know, but I was going by the guidelines given to us from the old Bishop game. One of them is using money left over from getting resources and since I only had one extra BP left, I figured I'd just convert it straight into the minimum 5000 we're supposed to have. I figured it would be the simplest thing to do since I needed to get a balance going and we're supposed to have a minimum 5000 anyway. Plus, it makes it simpler than saddling the GM with doing random rolls plus extra hits with money left over for resource acquisition to see how much cash I start with.
If the rules are completely different for this game, I'm totally fine with that and would be perfectly willing to accept a random amount of nuyen from the GM based on my lifestyle. There were just a few things I overlooked/didn't know about and wanted to get them taken care of before I forgot.
Also I'll get my reply in later tonight.
As I forgt to take the SINner disadvantage, any problem with converting that into gear like armor, shotgun, etc?
If we're going to use extended tests (which I can very well see us skipping over due to the nature of how we're playing), then unless we're getting sent on this run several days from now we're not likely to get much in the way of equipment in time for the run itself. Technically, buying anything not included is supposed to be subject to availability vs. an extended tests. The softs and the biomonitor I bought are available immediately due to being downloadable or extremely common while the satellite link for my comm unit could theoretically take a couple days to dig up.
However, I've got equipment coming out of my ears. I imagine most of the armors I have won't necessarily fit your troll but Crow's equipment, save for custom-fit things like the full armor and the helmet, is supposed to be all human-normal since he's both strong enough and experienced enough to use weapons not designed for someone his size. I could likely loan (or rent :winky:) out one of my many weapons and I don't think armor vests (of which I have one, though I won't be using it) being adjustable would be stretching things too far. I could likely loan also loan the armor jacket I have to someone human-sized.
Of course, that all assumes we're being somewhat strict in the application of rules and holding people to exactly what they did during character creation. I'm betting there will be some leniency at the beginning in favor of making sure nobody screws themselves over and dies on the first run.
I do like the idea of renting out equipment, though.
Managed to juggle so as not to take SINner, which would feel kind of cheesy for a wageslave. I'm treating the Ares Thunderbird sniper rifle as the most recent purchase (which makes sense considering Frankie is attached to Ares R&D). Only changes made below are that now all relevant gear is purchased.
Troll (Fomori): 45bp
Attributes: 220bp
Advantages: 20bp
Skills: 130bp
$85,000: 17BP
Contacts: 18BP
Attribute Costs - TOTAL: 220bp
Body 6 to 7: 10bp
Agi 1 to 4: 30BP
Rea 1 to 3: 20bp
Str 5:0bp
Cha 1 to 3: 20bp
Intuition 1 to 3: 20bp
Logic 1 to 3: 20bp
Willpower 1 to 5: 40bp
Essence: 5
Magic: 1 to 6 (down to 5 due to cyberware): 60bp
Qualities (20bp total)
Aptitude (Longarms): 10bp
Magician: 15bp
Mentor Spirit (Thunderbird): 5bp
Fame (National): 10bp
Aspected Magician (Conjuror Aspect): -5bp
Dependents: -15bp
Skills - TOTAL 130
Longarms (Sniper Rifles): 7 - 34bp
Conjuring Skill Group: 4 - 40bp
Infiltration (Urban): 3 - 14bp
Etiquette (Corporate): 4 - 18bp
Armorer (Rifles): 1 - 6bp
Instruction (Combat): 1 - 6bp
Intimidation: 1 - 4bp
Perception: 1 - 4bp
Unarmed Combat: 1 - 4bp
Languages/Knowledge Skills - 18 total
Ares Macrotechnology: 5
Geography: 2
Physics: 3
Spirits: 3
Kids Entertainment: 1
English: Native
Arabic: 4
Contacts - TOTAL 18
Megan Basantaray - Corporate Mom (Connection 3/Loyalty 6)
Doug Weston - Corporate Executive (Connection 6/Loyalty 3)
GEAR - 86105 - (85000 starter) - 3515y effective starting funds.
Lifestyle - High Lifestyle (23000 per month)
Wife + 12 kids = x2.3 cost modifier
Cyberware - TOTAL COST - 0.94 Essence, 43500
Cybereyes Rating 2 - 0.24 - 750
- Smartlink [3] - 1000
- Flare Compensation [1] - 750
- Thermographic Vision [2] - 1000
- Vision Magnification [2] - 1000
Cyberlimb (A) - Obvious, Right Arm - 0.7 - 20000
- Cyberarm Gyromount - [4] - 12000
- Shock Hand - [3] - 2000
- Large Smuggling Compartment - [5] - 4000
- Enhanced Strength (to 5) - [2] - 1000
Ares Thunderbird (aka Walter MA-2100) - 5000
- 40 rounds of APDS (10 per magazine) - 280
Ares DX49 (aka Remington 990) - 1000
- Smartlinked (+1000)
- 5 clips of normal (10 per clip) - 100 +25 for clips
Ares DefWear - 12180
Full Body Armor 6000 - 10/8
Helmet +1000 - +2/+2
- Commlink (Sony Emperor) - 700
- OS (Redcap Nix) - 400
- Subvocal Microphone 50
- Mapsoft (Seattle R6) - 30
Chemical Protection (4) +1000
Thermal Damping (6) +3000
The second question is if you would mind if I bought more ammo before going on the mission. I really only have gel rounds.