Mr Johnssons Calling (Shadowrun players looked for)

[Spider]

So a system has come out from the intrest check I made and now am going to boot things up again in the new year.

Shadowrun: Cyberpunk meets Fantasy, a distopian future where magic, dragons and money rules, but in the backalleys and shadows the shadowrunners fight for the Megacorporations (or anyone else who pays for none legal happenings)

We will start with regular rules 400BP chars, 4th edition rules. If you do not know the rules or have the books for it just PM me and say that you have intrest.

Please PM me your char ideas and put a note in this thread what general part/archtype you want to play in the group.

[TickTockMan]

Query:
Which books are allowed? Anything you don't want people to do? What sort of target section are we talking about (that affects characters as well)? Are we playing on the forums, IRC, OpenRPG, or what?

[The Dandy]

Well, I feel I will restate my interest here. I will probably play a magic user or adept of some sort. What kind will probably depend on what niche needs to be filled.

Indeed. What books are we allowed to use? I have a good number of 4th ed books.

[Spider]

Any 4th edition rulebook is allowed, I have them all. We will be playing in the forums as I do not have the time, nor am I in the timezone for a group game. As for what I dont want people to do: Murder psychopaths, unplayable concepts and what not. Anything is allowed, if you have an "Iffy" char concept then just pm me and ask if it is ok, then we can form it out to something that will work.

Dandy: As you are one of the first on sight you -can- decide what niche you want to fill ;)

[HairyHeretic]

Always had a fondness for the physical adept myself, but the last time I played was 2nd ed.

[TickTockMan]

Always had a fondness for the physical adept myself, but the last time I played was 2nd ed.

I played 3rd and 4th and inherited some 2nd ed books from a friend of mine and they seem to play pretty similar, which is to say that, at character creation, physads are weaker than a chromed Street Samurai, but they eventually surpass them (due to the fact that they aren't limited by not having enough essence).

[Tonalberry]

So it's okay for a newbie to join, even if they haven't played before?  I've wanted to get in a game, ever since I played the SNES and Genesis Shadowrun games, and I found out there was an rpg.

[Spider]

Hairy- We will be playing 4th edition but there are some nice char generators out there, the system itself is simple and more streamlined then the older versions (I love that its now one system and not one for hackers, one for riggers and one for magic but rather one unity)

Tonalberry- Yes there is ok for a newbie to join, I already have another newbie with us so you would be the second.

[Tonalberry]

Awesome.  I know the kind of character you don't want in the campaign, but is there anything in specific that you'd like to see?  What kind of character would fit?

[Muse]

I expressed intrest in the other thread.  Unless she'd be 12 kidns of redundat, I'll probably bring out my Miko. 

[Spider]

Miko would be a ....?

[TickTockMan]

Miko would be a ....?

I think he's referring to this type of Miko...

And I'm probably going to be working on a Technomancer. He's going to start out with Rigger tendencies, working on some hacker and combat skills as he gains Karma.

Incidentally, what sort of Karma/Money rate are we going to be looking at? Also, how open-ended is the game going to be? I just got off of a pretty long Shadowrun campaign and I think it might be fun to do a little bit of open-ended stuff, but that's to everyone else I guess.

[Spider]

Hacker would be more fitting we have a Rigger already in the group.


We will be looking at normal Karma and money rates for missions as a normal game would.
As for Open ended I would need to know what it means by the term. How do you define it as open ended?

[TickTockMan]

We will be looking at normal Karma and money rates for missions as a normal game would.

Hmmmm, what do you mean by "normal"? Are we going by the examples set by the official published missions as "normal"?

'Cause if we're going by that "normal" then it seems a bit anemic. By that Karma rate, it's going to take about 3 missions before a Mage/Technomancer can initiate/submerge (not including the cost of raising Magic/Resonance, which would be another 4 or so missions) and about 2 missions to increase an Active skill by 1 (4 to 5 to improve a group by 1).

Now, I can see that some people see this as "Runners should already be experienced people" (I disagree, but I see where people are coming from). I can budge on the missions giving about 4 to 5 Karma for each. But the nuyen is really bad in my opinion. Most published missions give characters about 3,000 nuyen if they do everything perfectly, including finding a nonviolent solution to a Troll Mage sent by the Triad to kill them :\ .

Here's the problem: if my Technomancer goes into a middle-class neighborhood he can, within a minute, break through the security of the car's node, and then drive it away with no one the wiser. Within a day or so, my fencer could sell it for a minimum of 3,000 nuyen (Assuming a Mercury Comet is "middle-class": it costs 14,000 nuyen. 30% of that is 4,200 nuyen. About 15% of that (630 nuyen) goes to the contact as a finder's fee, leaving me with 3,570 nuyen. And that's not counting anything which might be in the car).

Now, I realize that I'm essentially arguing for more "loot" without even having seen how much you're going to give, but it's just been something that's always bugged me about Shadowrun.

As for Open ended I would need to know what it means by the term. How do you define it as open ended?

Well, at the extreme far-end of open-endedness, you give us a world and then say "Okay, what do you want to do?". At the other end, you say "Okay, here's your next mission. Go do it."

To use an example, say we're contacted for a job. We go to meet with Mr. Johnson and he says that we should go kidnap a child. My character says "Sorry. I don't do children" and then walks away, are you going to allow it? More importantly, are you going to allow it and let it stand i.e. you don't have Mr. Johnson send goons in the middle of the night to force me to do the job or something like that.

Obviously, I show my bias in which direction I would prefer. But I've also been a GM before for many different games and realize how hard open-world building is. And I've had plenty of fun following the most railroaded dungeon crawls. So, yeah...

[Spider]

On Karma and Moneys:

3000 would be a low threat job then again 3000 is more then half of a descent month of rent. As for the car example characters are more then free to do as they please, to indulge in their hobbies and between runs, illegal activities and/or both is highly encouraged. Though stealing cars are not always low risk, for example when owner realizes car is gone and so on. But yes shadowrunners can do quite well in the smaller departments of illegal activities. 4-5 karma is for low threat jobs as well, the better you play your role the more you get, but yes managing the hinders in the run will also give you a steady karma boost.

Open endedness:

Each character is a person within a universe, they act according to their personality and background, as for the child kidnapping, if your char doesnt do it, Id recommend he has his fixer informed of that so the jobs are first filtered away from him. secondly, if you are directly contacted by a johnsson for the job, you would walk away and that would be that, no job, no cash, no nothing. Johnsson would find another to do the kid and everyone is happy. Im completely open ended in your definition. You will get a job, you will get the info of the job. The rest is up to you.

[Mystic Dragon]

Would a prime runner disrupt your campaign idea? The character I would submit broke the last campaign because the GM was railroading us.

Also, what are the differences between 3rd and 4th? I have a lot of 3rd edition books, but haven't read 4th yet.

[Spider]

Starting character 4th edition is what I said we will be playing, noone gets anything better, third and fourth have the diffrences I stated earlier, it has ONE system not several.

[Mystic Dragon]

Starting character 4th edition is what I said we will be playing, noone gets anything better, third and fourth have the diffrences I stated earlier, it has ONE system not several.

Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see any in-depth posts regarding what was different in 4th vs 3rd. I don't mind switching, but it will take me some time to get the books and make the adjustments.

Also, you may have misunderstood my comment- My character was generated using base statistics, but she's not a new runner. She's an adept small-arms sniper and works a day job. Since she's not a newb, artificial plots tend not to work well with her. My last GM had us at a convenience store at 4am when it was robbed. There was no reason for me to be there, and luckily it got interrupted before I put a bullet in the head of the street sam and derailed the plot entirely.

[Spider]

You can create what char you want with any background you want, but as I said in the "Open ended" part. Your actions will take you where you choose, if you character dont do a run but 4 others have no problem, well then you sitting out on the run. A well formulated background and somewhat of a written up personality along with any moral guidlines help to try and make all take the hook. But as I said. No thugs will come in the night to force you do a mission if you refuse it, but others will run it, without you, be it players or NPCs.

I have thus far gotten no PM about a rough concept on their char. Feel free to send me a sketch and I can easier say what I think on it.

[TickTockMan]

Also, what are the differences between 3rd and 4th? I have a lot of 3rd edition books, but haven't read 4th yet.

From pg. 52:

For veterans of Shadowrun, Third Edition
(and the first and second editions!), here’s the
lowdown on important mechanical concepts
that have changed:
• Dice pools no longer exist in their SR3 form.
They are now attribute + skill +/– modifiers.
• The target number for dice rolls is now always
5. Yes, all target numbers. Modifiers
add or subtract from dice pools, not the target
number.
• Each roll of 5 or 6 is a “hit” rather than a
“success.” Success is determined by the
number of hits scored.
• The Rule of One is triggered more frequently,
and may be triggered even when the roll
is successful. See Glitches, p. 55. We feel
your pain.
• The Rule of Six no longer applies, except
when you are using Edge. See p. 67.
• Open Tests no longer exist.
• A new type of test—Extended Tests—has
been added.
• The maximum for natural, unaugmented
Physical and Mental attribute ratings is now
6 (plus metatype modifiers).
• Intelligence is divided into two new attributes:
Intuition and Logic.
• Quickness is divided into two new attributes:
Agility and Reaction (Reaction is no
longer a derived attribute).
• Initiative is now a derived attribute
(Reaction + Intuition).
• Two new attributes have been added: Edge
(luck) and Resonance (for technomancers).
• Magic no longer starts at 6; it must be purchased
just like other attributes.
• Bioware and cyberware both reduce Essence,
but they are tracked separately and the
lesser value counts at half.
• Exclusive Actions no longer exist.
• You may now purchase skill groups—groups
of related skills with a cheaper bundled cost.
• All types of combat are now handled as
Opposed Tests.
• Condition Monitors are no longer fixed at 10
boxes (see Condition Monitors, p. 65).
• Wound Levels are gone and Damage Codes
were changed to a single Damage Value (see
p. 152) and an Armor Penetration modifier
(see p. 152).
• Matrix attributes and ratings are radically
different (see The Wireless World, p. 205).
• Street Index, Legality, Concealability, and
Weight have been removed from gear statistics
in favor of simplified systems.

Oh, and everything is wireless.

[Mystic Dragon]

O.o

Uh...wow?

It looks like I need to get a copy of the core book and start reading- those changes directly affect the stat'ing I did on my Adept due to improved physical attributes and such.

Thanks for posting that rather long list for me.

[TickTockMan]

No problem. I have a physical hardcopy of the book, but I have a digital one as well because it makes both searching and ctrl-c, ctrl-v easier.

[Spider]

We have thus far one Rigger, one Technomancer hacker/rigger.

Whats waiting in the wings but hasnt come in as a sketch to me is: Miko mage and an Adept

We are still looking for characters, to fill the gaps. Something we are missing is a Sam or some combathybrid type to round the group out

[Tonalberry]

I'm looking over the character creation rules at least, and I can make a street sam or other combat type

[Spider]

Good :)

If you need any help or tips just pm me. Also give me a rough sketch of he char with his background and personality :)