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SwampFox

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« Reply #15 on: <01-14-17/1148:50> »
I would do it via an artifact, as I've outlined above.  Maybe even have it only work in a place aspected to the artifact (your choice as to what aspect you want, but suggestions are animal, health and fertility of course).

Hmmm, I think a combination of magic and tech works best here.  Perhaps a lead on an artifact that was uncovered by a corp-sponsored dig and leaked via a mole in the dig; allowing for the team to go after it... but they have stiff competition from not only the corp guards, but other teams looking for a payday, and even the local flora and fauna as an unexpected side effect of the artifact.  The artifact in question is what would provide the heightened mana effect to allow the embryo's viability until it's implanted in the mother, and even then she'd probably have to visit it during the pregnancy at least once a week (or month depending on how strong I decide to make the artifact's effect) to keep the fetus healthy up until the final trimester.

Soo, perhaps the first trimester she has to bask in the artifact's influence on a weekly basis, second trimester is once a month, and by the time of the third trimester the fetus has grown strong enough that it no longer needs the aspected mana field to help sustain it.  After that the team is left holding a hot potatoe that has an enhancing effect on animal and plantlife (combination of Beast, Plant and Fertility mana aspects is what I'm aiming at).  Hmm, any suggestions for side effects that it could have on anything that's over-exposed to it?  (mainly for the run to acquire it, I imagine that the team is going to make sure it's effects are as contained as possible once they have it in hand)

MijRai

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« Reply #16 on: <01-14-17/1300:32> »
I would really not make this mana-tech if you want your players to be happy.  One of the things you can count on in Shadowrun is mixing technology and magic goes Wrong.  Cyberzombies, Blue-227, FAB III, Excalibur all illustrate this point off the top of my head.  I wouldn't ignore such situations, and I'd make involving technology to be a really Bad Idea.  Your artifact (maybe plural, one related to Fertility, one to unification, maybe one for Love) and some very aspected leylines meeting would be the way I 'justify' it.  Bringing technology into it leaves things open for Bad Stuff.  Bad Stuff can be fun, but it doesn't sound like what your players want.

That said though, were I in your shoes...  I'd have to nix their attempts in the end.  Try what you want, getting wolf and human hybrid children between two people who love each other very much is not going to work.
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SwampFox

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« Reply #17 on: <01-14-17/1515:28> »
Hmm, perhaps I misspoke.  I meant that there would be a combination of techniques, some using the artifact(s) and some using hard science.  It wouldn't be outright mana-tech so much as it'd be an intersection of the different techniques being used at the same time.  Also Cyberzombies aren't mana-tech so far as I'm aware, they're simply the final result of cyberpsychosis; and all the other examples you're citing were also attempts specifically to weaponize manatech.  I'd like to think that a benign use like this has less chance of going catastrophically wrong.  I will take what you've said into consideration though.

Novocrane

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« Reply #18 on: <01-14-17/1536:48> »
Quote
Also Cyberzombies aren't mana-tech so far as I'm aware, they're simply the final result of cyberpsychosis
You're incorrect. 5e Chrome Flesh or (better) 4e Augmentation would be worth reading to know more.

Reaver

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« Reply #19 on: <01-14-17/1542:10> »
You might want to brush up on your cyberzombie knowledge... you're off by a fair margin.

Cyberzombies are people that have pushed their bodies well past the 'end point' (essence wise, they are in the negative range) and have to have their 'souls' bound to their bodies through ritual magic. And even that doesn't stop them from eventual, final death. (Usually through tumors, cancers and/or genetic breakdown).

Cyberpsychosis is the on set of paychological flaws and disease through the heavy implantion of ware, but generally isn't fatal in and of itself.

There are several threads on the site that talk about bith of these things and how they differ if you are interested.
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SwampFox

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« Reply #20 on: <01-14-17/1649:58> »
I see.  Alright I will acknowledge the point there, though again that is a form of weaponizing mana-tech as opposed to a more benign use of the two disciplines in tandem.

MijRai

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« Reply #21 on: <01-15-17/0155:45> »
Weaponization wasn't the original intent; that was a way to extend metahuman life.  That such a methodology of 'extending' life involves literally binding the soul into a body that rebels against it and tries to kill itself without regular maintenance while the mind deteriorates (not to mention the part where if you fail the ritual, there's a chance Something Else possesses the body instead of the original soul and things get all sorts of messed up) is what highlights how bad it is.  You're missing the point where mixing Magic and Technology is bad juju.  I mean, the only example I can think of without any obvious negative side effects is the Astral Signature camera which barely functions.  The Excalibur project was merely initially designed as Manatech and then shunted over to a mundane platform and look at how horrible it turned out to be. 

What you're talking about is messing with the basis of life.  An amalgamation of Awakened and non-Awakened methodologies.  It's going into an area where by Shadowrun lore it can only be dark.  If you want your players to succeed with canon's input, you're best off going full Magic or full Technology, no fusion.  If you feel like torturing your players, maybe make the fusion easier to access, but don't just skip out on the flaws. 
Would you want to go into a place where the resident had a drum-fed shotgun and can see in the dark?

farothel

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« Reply #22 on: <01-15-17/0616:08> »
Hmmm, I think a combination of magic and tech works best here.  Perhaps a lead on an artifact that was uncovered by a corp-sponsored dig and leaked via a mole in the dig; allowing for the team to go after it... but they have stiff competition from not only the corp guards, but other teams looking for a payday, and even the local flora and fauna as an unexpected side effect of the artifact.  The artifact in question is what would provide the heightened mana effect to allow the embryo's viability until it's implanted in the mother, and even then she'd probably have to visit it during the pregnancy at least once a week (or month depending on how strong I decide to make the artifact's effect) to keep the fetus healthy up until the final trimester.

Soo, perhaps the first trimester she has to bask in the artifact's influence on a weekly basis, second trimester is once a month, and by the time of the third trimester the fetus has grown strong enough that it no longer needs the aspected mana field to help sustain it.  After that the team is left holding a hot potatoe that has an enhancing effect on animal and plantlife (combination of Beast, Plant and Fertility mana aspects is what I'm aiming at).  Hmm, any suggestions for side effects that it could have on anything that's over-exposed to it?  (mainly for the run to acquire it, I imagine that the team is going to make sure it's effects are as contained as possible once they have it in hand)

As possible side-effects I can suggest two:
-first is that after exposure to the artifact any sexual act which might result in a pregnancy, will result in pregnancy.  Birth-control devices fail, infertility is temporarily cured, etc.  This is also the power that would allow the mating between a human and a shapeshifter, but the downside is that everybody will get the next person they have sex with pregnant (or get pregnant themselves if they are female).  You can build a time-limit in it (example: if you are away from the device for one month, it doesn't work anymore).  As an FYI: I nicked this from Scion Roleplay, where you have a power which does exactly this.

-the second effect is that if you are too long in the device's vicinity, you might get SURGE'd.  After a suitable time period in the device's vicinity (a day, a week, a couple of hours, whatever you feel like) they have to do a body+edge roll and on a glitch or crit glitch they will get the SURGE quality.  As I don't know how that looks like in 5th edition, I can't give any advice on which powers you want to give (positive and negative, I would give some of both), but maybe go for a Satyr-like look for males and a nymph-like look for females.

I would suggest to have the second effect visible first on an NPC, so the players know something is up.  They will then have to either accept the fact that this can happen, or find a way to block it (there should be a way, encasing it in lead is always a good way of doing this, or bringing it into a magic dead zone, although the second one might be a lot harder).  The two who want to get pregnant will have to be in the effect and they will have to decide if they want to run the risk or not.
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RowanTheFox

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« Reply #23 on: <01-15-17/1520:32> »
Any artifact of the god Frey might be a good start. Like a plain wooden figurine of the god that has been seemingly unaffected by the passage of time.
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Marzhin

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« Reply #24 on: <01-16-17/0506:38> »
I'm reminded of The Last Wish, one of the original short stories of The Witcher. Without spoiling too much this story too revolves around two characters who should not be able to have children wishing to have one...

So maybe it could take the form of a mertaplane quest for a wish-fulfilling, Djinn-line spirit, which turns out to be also a highly dangerous trickster spirit. Could bring in some Court of Shadows shenanigans in it too...

And a child created by such powerful magic would attract a lot of unwanted attention, from Dragons, Fae, megacorps, cults and everything in between... The happy parents would have to protect their miraculous (or, depending on who you ask, unholy) progeny from all kind of threats, like in the comic book Saga if you've read that.

Anyway, that's how I'd do it :)
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Rosa

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« Reply #25 on: <01-16-17/1045:11> »
I would make it much more involved than "just " finding an artifact tbh, make them work for it.

Start by having them get their hands on some hints that suggests that for example the Apep consortium has unearthed a strange ritual from long ago that seemingly deals with this issue.

Have them get their hands on it as well as some research notes that tells of an attempt that ended in spectacular failure, but the notes suggest that the ritual is incomplete and that you probably need to secure the aid of a powerful free beast spirit.

Once they have secured such aid have the spirit inform them that they need the aid of a powerful free spirit of man as well and that they need to craft a unique foci  ( check 4th ed. Street magic for the rules for creating unique foci, boo hiss 5th ed. another thing left out  ).

By now you have plot hooks for at least 4-5 runs which can easily be expanded if you feel they have to really work for it,  favors for the spirits,  exotic reagent gathering. ...etc.

Shaidar

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« Reply #26 on: <02-13-17/2159:57> »
The SR novel "The Forever Drug" by Lisa Smedman from 1999 has a male Wolf Shifter as the primary character. It repeatedly states that while he isn't "forced" to revert to wolf form to sleep it is the more comfortable and natural state for him to rest. Trying to sleep in human form which he'd attempted from time to time left him decidedly unrested.

The Wyrm Ouroboros

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« Reply #27 on: <02-14-17/0405:23> »
Since both your interested parties (father/mother) are mana-active, I'd personally stay away from the technical side, and combine an artifact with a deep metaplanar quest to turn the human into a true wolf shapeshifter for long enough to impregnate the mother.  While the point about a shapeshifter having kids is accurate (that it is not guaranteed for a shapeshifter/standard critter mating to result in a shapeshifter child), the 'Striper' books at least strongly suggest that shapeshifter/shapeshifter matings have a high degree of likelihood of having shapeshifter offspring.  As SR's stated again and again that scientific methodology has been utterly unable to nail down the gene sequences that turn someone magically active (if such sequences exist at all), I'd keep well away from it and look at it from the other angle ...

That's my personal suggestion, anyhow.
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SwampFox

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« Reply #28 on: <02-20-17/2244:29> »
Since both your interested parties (father/mother) are mana-active, I'd personally stay away from the technical side, and combine an artifact with a deep metaplanar quest to turn the human into a true wolf shapeshifter for long enough to impregnate the mother.  While the point about a shapeshifter having kids is accurate (that it is not guaranteed for a shapeshifter/standard critter mating to result in a shapeshifter child), the 'Striper' books at least strongly suggest that shapeshifter/shapeshifter matings have a high degree of likelihood of having shapeshifter offspring.  As SR's stated again and again that scientific methodology has been utterly unable to nail down the gene sequences that turn someone magically active (if such sequences exist at all), I'd keep well away from it and look at it from the other angle ...

That's my personal suggestion, anyhow.
Yeah, I'm going with a pure magic scenario.  Going to pull togetehr a few different elements, including a) a scrap of a ritual that one of Balthazar's contacts sends him, starting the chase.  B) there's another couple of agencies looking for the full ritual; but once we get it one way or another, it turns out that it requires an artifact to actually make it work rather than turning both participants into cancer-ridden sacks of flesh.  C) the artifact in question was used by a deceased dragon who was in a bit of a competition wit hGhostwalker to create servant races, and had created the basis for a number of current metatypes, including shapeshifters.  Using the ritual, the artifact, and a site of power to give it the needed boost, they'd be able to conceive the child they want.  However where there's draconic artifacts, there's often dragons.  And Ghostwalker would very much like to get his claws on his old opponent's key component to his plans.  Likewise other dragons may want it for plans of their own, or simply as a way to thwart Ghostwalker.  Schwarzkoph would probably want to study it, the Sea Dragon may want to use it to increase her own forces, and Llofwyr would turn it into a hatrack in his personal lair, so long as it was kept out of Ghostwalker's claws.

MDMann

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« Reply #29 on: <03-01-17/0702:23> »
I'd probably run it thus:

There's an old artefact that raises the management level in an area. It's fertility aspected with minor effects in plant and animal. This is all it does. It needs placing at the intersection of two mana lines to be effective. If done so,  it will massively raise the fecundity of all surrounding living matter. Crops will be bumper,  foliage will be lush and verdant, animals will multiply. Spilling into surrounding areas (effects are in balance within the radius of effect, but things spill out). This has greater effects on the awakened, so there's a greater preponderance of them there. You can imagine how poultry this would make the artefact. Conception is needed within the area, gestation and delivery would be helpful but not essential.

Second. You need a ritual to make them compatible for the coupling. This is seperate and unrelated. The theory goes that if the two are used together, things should work. But, it remains just that, a theory. Many such rituals exist of varying efficacy. I'd suggest a metaplanar quest or delve into the shinto for most effective spells. Also a useful knowledge. You can even sell the padata later.

I'd have the first rite they attempt fail and have horrific effects (on bystanders or whoever steals the the formula). Next, track down a more powerful ritual or one with less nasty side effects. Repeat as often as wanted.