I just found a giant spelling error in my naming convention for something. It's only visible in the editor, and fixing it will take hours of combing through dialog trying to find where everything is connected.
In an age far from now, anthropologists will look upon this and say to each other:
"What is SouthStreeBulletinBoardMISSION1START, and what is SouthStreetBulletinBoardMISSION3START?"
This will bother me for days.
"Stree" is totally canonical slang for Street, Chummer.
Mostly it isn't covered because it isn't really there. The rules for creating spells, including the GM portions, don't cover accidental creation. Simply because it just doesn't really seem to happen. Even the steps for making a spell point out that it just isn't really possible to have some accidental spell creation. It requires an understanding of the mechanics of mana and and understanding of how to manipulate that mana. Mana itself doesn't do anything on it's own, and cannot act on it's own. That's one of the rules of magic. You can't just think "fireball" and make a fireball, you have to understand how to funnel and shape mana to create a ball of fire and then make it do what you want.
You can think as rigidly as you want about this particular point based on the rules, I guess, but accidental magic occurs throughout the fiction of the game (from both modules and rulebook fluff and the novels). The typical origin story of a ganger mage is "he accidentally learned how to chuck a fireball" or "he had an invisible friend in childhood which suddenly became real." Or look at Sam Verner's origin as a shaman. Learning to reproduce it reliably can be the act of learning it as a spell, although this isn't likely to happen within the rules of the game. I'm not saying it's a common occurrence. *
There's a whole "Innate Spell" edge in 3rd edition which covers a natural talent to cast a single spell (without being a full or even aspected mage or having any magical theory knowledge). You can't learn this from a spell formula, and it represents one of many ways spellcasting can break from the norm in 3rd edition.
I don't like to use the word "can't" when I GM Shadowrun. You close yourself off to a world of possibilities, especially when there is fictional precedent within the scope of the game's fluff. Lord knows, Shadowrun has a terrible system compared to more elegant games (like ORE or DitV), so I'm not playing it for the RULES.
Also at several points I was using "facilities" as a non-specific noun to refer to places required for the work to happen and not directly referencing the "Facility" level of tools that can be bought, so I can understand why that got confused.
At the same time that kind of thing puts players on the level of small corporations. Being able to design and develop kit like that isn't a garage level development process.
These "facilities" are pretty cheap in current editions of Shadowrun. 4th and 5th both have it at 500 nuyen per Force. Shamanic lodges have always been cheap (1000 nuyen per Force, I think, and that's with 3rd edition/2nd edition massive price inflation), and even hermetic libraries, while more expensive, are affordable for the average shadowrunner. Maybe not so much cheap in terms of the space to set it all up. But NOT on the level of small corporations. I think you are wrong on this point, especially by the rules you are quoting from MitS and Grimoire.
If you are referring to other non-magical gear creation, there's the Desktop Forge rules (which existed in 3rd edition late in the development cycle), which provide an ample justification for a home-based crafting system.
* EDIT: Now that I have my books in front of me: Magic in the Shadows lists on page 8: "Some gifted children first display their powers spontaneously under stress. An angry child may, for example, hurl a low-power spell, or the “invisible friend” of another may suddenly become visible." On page 10: "Sometimes these repressed individuals manifest their abilities through channels other than magical training: spontaneous “miracles” or “psychic” phenomena, for example" On page 13: "many street-types are entirely unaware of their magical potential until some traumatic event triggers their talent, violently thrusting them into Awakening." That's just 3rd edition references. Street Magic in 4th, page 10: “But what about spontaneous manifestations?” you ask. “Like when children first discover their abilities?” True, it does happen, and there have been many documented cases—but it’s rare, and almost never controlled". It's part of the fiction of the game, but there aren't any rules for it because a PC isn't supposed to spontaneously cast spells, probably for game balance purposes. NPCs, though... they can do spontaneous accidental magic just fine, if your GM is evil.
How "single corp" is this building? I mean, most office buildings aren't single tenant today, so they'd have potentially a completely unrelated company on the top floor.
In my office, the top two floors are taken over by a law firm, and they have normal offices (and their security) on the second-from-the-top and the posh conference rooms and exec offices on the top floor.
I like the idea of having "High Plains" having the second (product creation) and third floor (sales/consultation), while a much smaller company is in the top floor.
Small company would probably not get top floor unless it was a front. Unless the owner has a reason to segregate and needs the bottom floors contiguous.
Well, simple solution is that the HPC is top and middle floor. So, what would be an appropriate first business floor?
It can be two smaller businesses.
Hell, the code farm can be in the basement and there can be two floors up for office space. I just need some themes so I don't get repetitive.
Context is: high end, refined, business building. Formal lobby with private security and a double elevator. Secured parking with entrance into the services area (power, water, servers, etc.). Each floor is accessed via one of the elevators. The elevators run up the center of the building, making each floor a big circle.
I can provide screen shots if my descriptive skills are falling here.
The player it's tasked with getting some payday from inside this building. There are security cameras, motion detectors, etc. Plus private security. Who are equipped with helicopters.
Again, I mostly just need themes and basic ideas to create theme. Otherwise this would all just be cubicles, since that's all I can think of.
I like the idea of having "High Plains" having the second (product creation) and third floor (sales/consultation), while a much smaller company is in the top floor.
Got it: server farm.
EDIT: Sorry, you got that.
How about an Ares' Knight Errant office? Lone Star might need someone to "acquire" stuff for them that the competition doesn't need.
Archsorcerer on
XBL - ArchSilversmith
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
This isn't a terrible idea, I just don't think it fits. Luxary offices maybe... Like... Two super large offices for the highest level employee's for that branch?
I like the idea of having "High Plains" having the second (product creation) and third floor (sales/consultation), while a much smaller company is in the top floor.
Got it: server farm.
EDIT: Sorry, you got that.
How about an Ares' Knight Errant office? Lone Star might need someone to "acquire" stuff for them that the competition doesn't need.
A security office is something I've been thinking about. Maybe some sales offices for the private security that High Plains has employed?
A security office is something I've been thinking about. Maybe some sales offices for the private security that High Plains has employed?
A sniper / drone team in the roof.
EDIT: Recruitment office for Lone Star or Knight Errant. They process paperwork there and the recruitment center is in another place. Rival corp might want you to steal some files or for you to leave some dirty information (money laundering, uncover criminal records among its members, an assassination attempt, etc.)
Archsorcerer on
XBL - ArchSilversmith
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
Context is: high end, refined, business building. Formal lobby with private security and a double elevator.
This says fairly high-end office space. Most less-awesome office spaces will have either an unguarded lobby (with tenants on the first floor) or they'll have an abbreviated lobby area with a receptionist. Full first-floor lobbies are fairly rare, because it's wasted space (from the building owner's perspective), so when you see one, you know that everyone on the higher floors is going paying that much extra in rent to make up the difference (+ the cost of lobby maintenance, staff, etc.).
Secured parking with entrance into the services area (power, water, servers, etc.). Each floor is accessed via one of the elevators. The elevators run up the center of the building, making each floor a big circle.
This is pretty standard, though, so let's focus on the first part. (Also, most corporate offices are going to have their own, separate server rooms; they won't share the same location.)
People who do high-end office space today:
Lawyers
Architects
Government consulting firms
Industry trade groups
Lobby snack bar / coffee shop
Unions
Lobbyists
Bankers / investment firms
One point to keep in mind when designing the office is the freight elevator. While the lobby-based, passenger-carrying elevators are going to be really posh, there's always going to be a larger, less fancy elevator with access to the loading dock area for carrying up things like grocery orders, furniture, construction materials, etc. Makes for an interesting point of access.
Or just steal private information of their employees.
You know, it sucks that living in Mexico is giving me all those ideas. Got me a little depressed.
But you know what cheered me up, an idea for a campaign I would like to try to make: Nephilim Network's Jon Bartlet is missing and you are the last person to see him alive. Now his buddies have made you the newest member until you and NN can find him. Or die trying of course.
Archsorcerer on
XBL - ArchSilversmith
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
Hey Anon, you need to steal the digital certificate that corp uses for its secure documents. You know, the other half of the security key so the rival corp can create digital forgeries and pass the blame on some stuff they did (and probably you were involved too ).
EDIT: Or maybe just a bug to tap into their secure connections to monitor their calls and e-mails.
Archsorcerer on
XBL - ArchSilversmith
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
I like the "Industry trade groups" idea. Opportunity to put in side objectives and easy enough to blend into what's existing. Plus it's easy to fill the fluff with "and X shares of Y were traded yesterday" on the inspectable documents and computers.
On servers: Yeah, this is just a dozen mainframes down in the services area, just the inter-office network, and not the main storage servers. It's so the player has access to them logically and some fun stuff can happen.
Elevators: Right now the twin lobby elevators are just transit points. You click it, select floor, teleport to floor. No need to actually have an elevator room for multiple clicks. It would just be an extra room you'd stand in for a second before leaving. I like the idea of a freight elevator, I just don't know what to do with it. If I let the player "shut down" the main elevators, that doesn't change much. The security team attacks would be unaffected since they have helicopters and stairs. It would just be an aesthetic thing. Which I usually accommodate for, because I like elements of "cool", this time though... It just seems like extra work for little to no pay off.
I think for the sake of simplicity, I'll leave the elevator situation as is.
On the point of simplicity:
Here, this is the roughed out version of this office job. Usual disclaimers: Most of this will be "beautified" before it's done. I'll also probably remove those cubicle walls and replace them with something less... Annoying. The more I run past those dividers. The more I hate them. Also ignore the double doors in some areas, those are still in place because I haven't written the triggers for you to open/close them.
So there's one more floor to be done (two if I move the coding floor to a "basement").
It could be: Commodity trader floor 2, HPC code farms floor 3, HPC sales/consultation floor 4.
The premise is that the player is given an objective to go get some data. You can go in the front door, talk your way into the elevator, and start running around trying to unlock the data (you'll have to hack a couple computers to unlock the data). Or go in and start shooting. Or go in the service/security entrance and start disabling things. Take out the power to floor three to disable those security cameras. Overload the water system to lure a guard down to the services area to take him out. Pump gas (if you have it) through the ventilation system to disable all the guards.
There will also be quite a few side objectives here. Little stashes of corporate scrip you can steal, some petty cash in a desk, biotech design plans you can steal, etc.
Hey Anon, you need to steal the digital certificate that corp uses for its secure documents. You know, the other half of the security key so the rival corp can create digital forgeries and pass the blame on some stuff they did (and probably you were involved too ).
EDIT: Or maybe just a bug to tap into their secure connections to monitor their calls and e-mails.
This is more useful than you know. I've been trying to incorporate rolling/random objectives in these missions. So you don't quite know what to expect. Both of these examples are super easy to accommodate.
Another thing is that the digital key can expire or be renewed. The corp can detect if too many documents have been generated with it or if its outdated and backfire increasing the wanted level and maybe even losing the contact that makes the forgeries (that provides other services). A little risk and reward.
Archsorcerer on
XBL - ArchSilversmith
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
You can now invest your nuyen when you start amassing a bunch. You put it in an account, and every turn there is a coin flip. Heads you make some, tails you lose some.
There's also a high yield investment. But you stand to lose your investment much quicker. Although... if you keep an eye on it...
You also get an ATM card where you can check your balance and make small withdrawals.
If you piss of a certain guy in a certain bar, his team of runners will randomly spawn in on your jobs to try and kill you.
That would be down the road though. Need a couple missions to introduce them, trigger the grudge, build a way out of it... you're looking at like... three to four missions to make that a nice seamless addition. Not a problem, and will be introduced later.
Right now I want to get "feature complete" with 10 unique jobs. Before throwing in more new stuff.
Attending PAX Prime this weekend? Interested in looking at and/or purchasing some sweet Shadowrun Returns art? Stop by the Raygun Lounge (located on Capitol Hill, a short walk from the convention center) and check out the Shadowrun Returns Art Show. Every piece will be available for 15% off all weekend long!
I've got this bulletin board thing right? It's got two levels right now. Easy missions and "Moderate difficulty" missions.
The easy missions are: 2 kill/combat missions, 1 pure decking mission.
Medium missions are/will be: 1 Item retrieval/combat mission (light decking, mostly running and gunning, opportunity to talk through the entire thing). 1 decking mission (decker must complete the objective, lots of alternate stuff and objectives, most requiring a decker, chance to talk though, combat is possible but only used to defend the decker). 1 unknown right now.
Does that sound fair? Each bundle of missions will have one which is focused on deckers, while the others are more combat focused with decking just providing access/bonus loot.
I'll probably have it set so you can't accept the decking required missions if your team doesn't have a cyber deck.
Is a mission which requires a decker ok? Or should decking never be a requirement?
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NocrenLt Futz, Back in ActionNorth CarolinaRegistered Userregular
If you want some ideas, look at places like Japan (obviously) and Singapore for use of space. When I visited Singapore I was surprised at how pretty much ever first 3 floors or so of every building was a shopping center. And also how each building was also essentially a city block.
Posts
"Stree" is totally canonical slang for Street, Chummer.
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
There's a whole "Innate Spell" edge in 3rd edition which covers a natural talent to cast a single spell (without being a full or even aspected mage or having any magical theory knowledge). You can't learn this from a spell formula, and it represents one of many ways spellcasting can break from the norm in 3rd edition.
I don't like to use the word "can't" when I GM Shadowrun. You close yourself off to a world of possibilities, especially when there is fictional precedent within the scope of the game's fluff. Lord knows, Shadowrun has a terrible system compared to more elegant games (like ORE or DitV), so I'm not playing it for the RULES.
These "facilities" are pretty cheap in current editions of Shadowrun. 4th and 5th both have it at 500 nuyen per Force. Shamanic lodges have always been cheap (1000 nuyen per Force, I think, and that's with 3rd edition/2nd edition massive price inflation), and even hermetic libraries, while more expensive, are affordable for the average shadowrunner. Maybe not so much cheap in terms of the space to set it all up. But NOT on the level of small corporations. I think you are wrong on this point, especially by the rules you are quoting from MitS and Grimoire.
If you are referring to other non-magical gear creation, there's the Desktop Forge rules (which existed in 3rd edition late in the development cycle), which provide an ample justification for a home-based crafting system.
* EDIT: Now that I have my books in front of me: Magic in the Shadows lists on page 8: "Some gifted children first display their powers spontaneously under stress. An angry child may, for example, hurl a low-power spell, or the “invisible friend” of another may suddenly become visible." On page 10: "Sometimes these repressed individuals manifest their abilities through channels other than magical training: spontaneous “miracles” or “psychic” phenomena, for example" On page 13: "many street-types are entirely unaware of their magical potential until some traumatic event triggers their talent, violently thrusting them into Awakening." That's just 3rd edition references. Street Magic in 4th, page 10: “But what about spontaneous manifestations?” you ask. “Like when children first discover their abilities?” True, it does happen, and there have been many documented cases—but it’s rare, and almost never controlled". It's part of the fiction of the game, but there aren't any rules for it because a PC isn't supposed to spontaneously cast spells, probably for game balance purposes. NPCs, though... they can do spontaneous accidental magic just fine, if your GM is evil.
Here's some screenshots.
Interior:
Whoops!
I really should jump into the editor stuff more in-depth. Gonna sign up on the webinar.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
Four floors.
Lobby/services.
Programming cubicles.
Admin offices/conference room/software engineer cubes.
??
What do I put in the top floor?
Idea's.
Go.
Obviously, a penthouse of ultimate luxury.
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
or
Industrial, HVAC plant, ductwork leading to lower offices maybe.
How about an art/relic area with a secret door or an elevator to a drug lab? That's where the real valuables are.
I think that's too much.
EDIT: Maybe a room where the executive has clones or spare organs made for himself.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
EDIT: Maybe a frisbee. :P
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
How "single corp" is this building? I mean, most office buildings aren't single tenant today, so they'd have potentially a completely unrelated company on the top floor.
In my office, the top two floors are taken over by a law firm, and they have normal offices (and their security) on the second-from-the-top and the posh conference rooms and exec offices on the top floor.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
I like the idea of having "High Plains" having the second (product creation) and third floor (sales/consultation), while a much smaller company is in the top floor.
It can be two smaller businesses.
Hell, the code farm can be in the basement and there can be two floors up for office space. I just need some themes so I don't get repetitive.
Context is: high end, refined, business building. Formal lobby with private security and a double elevator. Secured parking with entrance into the services area (power, water, servers, etc.). Each floor is accessed via one of the elevators. The elevators run up the center of the building, making each floor a big circle.
I can provide screen shots if my descriptive skills are falling here.
The player it's tasked with getting some payday from inside this building. There are security cameras, motion detectors, etc. Plus private security. Who are equipped with helicopters.
Again, I mostly just need themes and basic ideas to create theme. Otherwise this would all just be cubicles, since that's all I can think of.
Got it: server farm.
EDIT: Sorry, you got that.
How about an Ares' Knight Errant office? Lone Star might need someone to "acquire" stuff for them that the competition doesn't need.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
This isn't a terrible idea, I just don't think it fits. Luxary offices maybe... Like... Two super large offices for the highest level employee's for that branch?
A security office is something I've been thinking about. Maybe some sales offices for the private security that High Plains has employed?
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
A sniper / drone team in the roof.
EDIT: Recruitment office for Lone Star or Knight Errant. They process paperwork there and the recruitment center is in another place. Rival corp might want you to steal some files or for you to leave some dirty information (money laundering, uncover criminal records among its members, an assassination attempt, etc.)
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
This says fairly high-end office space. Most less-awesome office spaces will have either an unguarded lobby (with tenants on the first floor) or they'll have an abbreviated lobby area with a receptionist. Full first-floor lobbies are fairly rare, because it's wasted space (from the building owner's perspective), so when you see one, you know that everyone on the higher floors is going paying that much extra in rent to make up the difference (+ the cost of lobby maintenance, staff, etc.).
This is pretty standard, though, so let's focus on the first part. (Also, most corporate offices are going to have their own, separate server rooms; they won't share the same location.)
People who do high-end office space today:
One point to keep in mind when designing the office is the freight elevator. While the lobby-based, passenger-carrying elevators are going to be really posh, there's always going to be a larger, less fancy elevator with access to the loading dock area for carrying up things like grocery orders, furniture, construction materials, etc. Makes for an interesting point of access.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
You know, it sucks that living in Mexico is giving me all those ideas. Got me a little depressed.
But you know what cheered me up, an idea for a campaign I would like to try to make: Nephilim Network's Jon Bartlet is missing and you are the last person to see him alive. Now his buddies have made you the newest member until you and NN can find him. Or die trying of course.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
EDIT: Or maybe just a bug to tap into their secure connections to monitor their calls and e-mails.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
I like the "Industry trade groups" idea. Opportunity to put in side objectives and easy enough to blend into what's existing. Plus it's easy to fill the fluff with "and X shares of Y were traded yesterday" on the inspectable documents and computers.
On servers: Yeah, this is just a dozen mainframes down in the services area, just the inter-office network, and not the main storage servers. It's so the player has access to them logically and some fun stuff can happen.
Elevators: Right now the twin lobby elevators are just transit points. You click it, select floor, teleport to floor. No need to actually have an elevator room for multiple clicks. It would just be an extra room you'd stand in for a second before leaving. I like the idea of a freight elevator, I just don't know what to do with it. If I let the player "shut down" the main elevators, that doesn't change much. The security team attacks would be unaffected since they have helicopters and stairs. It would just be an aesthetic thing. Which I usually accommodate for, because I like elements of "cool", this time though... It just seems like extra work for little to no pay off.
I think for the sake of simplicity, I'll leave the elevator situation as is.
On the point of simplicity:
Here, this is the roughed out version of this office job. Usual disclaimers: Most of this will be "beautified" before it's done. I'll also probably remove those cubicle walls and replace them with something less... Annoying. The more I run past those dividers. The more I hate them. Also ignore the double doors in some areas, those are still in place because I haven't written the triggers for you to open/close them.
So there's one more floor to be done (two if I move the coding floor to a "basement").
It could be: Commodity trader floor 2, HPC code farms floor 3, HPC sales/consultation floor 4.
The premise is that the player is given an objective to go get some data. You can go in the front door, talk your way into the elevator, and start running around trying to unlock the data (you'll have to hack a couple computers to unlock the data). Or go in and start shooting. Or go in the service/security entrance and start disabling things. Take out the power to floor three to disable those security cameras. Overload the water system to lure a guard down to the services area to take him out. Pump gas (if you have it) through the ventilation system to disable all the guards.
There will also be quite a few side objectives here. Little stashes of corporate scrip you can steal, some petty cash in a desk, biotech design plans you can steal, etc.
This is more useful than you know. I've been trying to incorporate rolling/random objectives in these missions. So you don't quite know what to expect. Both of these examples are super easy to accommodate.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
There's also a high yield investment. But you stand to lose your investment much quicker. Although... if you keep an eye on it...
You also get an ATM card where you can check your balance and make small withdrawals.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
If you piss of a certain guy in a certain bar, his team of runners will randomly spawn in on your jobs to try and kill you.
That would be down the road though. Need a couple missions to introduce them, trigger the grudge, build a way out of it... you're looking at like... three to four missions to make that a nice seamless addition. Not a problem, and will be introduced later.
Right now I want to get "feature complete" with 10 unique jobs. Before throwing in more new stuff.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
Ideally, I'd like to have rival teams be comprised of PA guys. So as your playing, you might have to fight off a character you inspired.
... Or maybe you befriend them and then...
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
Here is the link to site's facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/RaygunLounge
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
EDIT: Add a note that deckers (PC or runners) are highly recommended in the description.
No doubt there are plenty of runners with cross-training in decking and willing to challenge those bank systems that you could add to the campaign.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
It begins....
Lots of matrix stuff with branching paths, lowering firewalls and going back to hit a switch, etc.
Retail/Food. Same thing that goes on the first floor of every office building in a downtown area.
I've got this bulletin board thing right? It's got two levels right now. Easy missions and "Moderate difficulty" missions.
The easy missions are: 2 kill/combat missions, 1 pure decking mission.
Medium missions are/will be: 1 Item retrieval/combat mission (light decking, mostly running and gunning, opportunity to talk through the entire thing). 1 decking mission (decker must complete the objective, lots of alternate stuff and objectives, most requiring a decker, chance to talk though, combat is possible but only used to defend the decker). 1 unknown right now.
Does that sound fair? Each bundle of missions will have one which is focused on deckers, while the others are more combat focused with decking just providing access/bonus loot.
I'll probably have it set so you can't accept the decking required missions if your team doesn't have a cyber deck.
Is a mission which requires a decker ok? Or should decking never be a requirement?