[Scarecrow71]

Greetings one and all, and thank you for reading this thread.  I won't mess around, and will just dive into the details of what this is and why.

What This Is:  I am currently recruiting for a 5th edition Shadowrun game, as you can plainly see from the thread title.  What I want to attempt to do is take some (all?) of the existing 4E campaigns, missions, solo adventures, and other source material and semi-convert it to 5th edition and run it in a PBP format.  It shouldn't be too hard to do, considering the basics of the 2 editions (from what I've seen) are generally the same.  Will it be easy?  No.  Will it be worth it?  Yes.  Or, at least I hope solo.


What I Am Looking For:  I'd like to get a team of 4-5 runners with different, yet complimentary, skills to do this.  I am looking for, at the very least, a Street Samurai (Overt), a Street Samurai (Covert), a Mage, and a Decker.  A Rigger would be fine, but that 5th spot is going to end up going to the best character concept.

I tend to care more about story than I do mechanics, which means if it's cool and makes sense it will generally work.  However, seeing as this is 5E and we (ok, probably just me, but cut me some slack here) are all learning the nuances of 5E mechanics will count.


What Kind Of GM I Am:  Simply put, hard but fair.  The campaigns I run are gritty, dark, and definitely more mirrored shades than pink mohawk.  That's not to say some far-out stuff won't happen, but when it does it will make sense.  I try to be realistic without getting bogged down in the minutia of things, so try not to get too granular with stuff please.

I cannot stress the following statement enough:  I am NOT in the business of killing PCs.  Far too often I get characters submitted for games and as soon as the party is selected one or more people want to switch their characters around because they fear they aren't built for combat.  I won't lie - your characters will get hurt.  You will wish you'd brought that armor vest, or bought more bullets, or planned better.  And there will be times that you will be on your last leg, praying for a miracle to happen.  But unless you play extraordinarily stupid, you won't die.  If you die, I have to replace you.  I don't like replacing characters mid-way through a story.  It doesn't work very well.


Examples:  I've got several games going right now on another site, and I'd like to give you the chance to read them so you can see what kind of GM I am.  One of these is a 4E Shadowrun game, the other is a Vampire the Masquerade game.  The SR4E game moves rather slow, and I the guys just got into their first combat situation.  It hasn't been smooth at times, but we've worked through stuff.

The Vampire game is given as an example so you can see me at my personal horror best.

Into the Shadows (SR4E)
The Giovanni Chronicles (VtM 20A)

If you have any questions on anything, by all means send me a PM.


Character Generation:  I fully intend on using the sample "adventure" in the quick start rules first so we can get used to some little things in the rules before moving fully into the pre-existing missions and adventures...as well as a couple home-brew things I've written based on stuff I've seen or read.  Because we are starting with the QSR adventure, you've got your choice:

1.  One of the pre-generated characters from the QSR; or
2.  A new character, done by the 5E rules.

Your choice, but once you do one, you stick with it.  That means if you take one of the pre-gens and get through the QSR adventure, that character is yours and it moves on in the campaign.  IE, you don't get to use a pre-gen there and then create a new character once that adventure ends.

Standard build if you go with option 2, but your work is a little harder.  I want to see not only the character, but I want to see Priority Selection, as well as all Karma and Resource expenditures.  I'm not overly concerned with Skills and Attributes, but I will question you if the numbers look wonky.

I don't care about in-depth background, but I do want to see an explanation of any qualities that call for it (such as Bad Rep or Distinctive Style).  If you feel there is something important you want to share (character dreams, goals, etc.), by all means provide it.  But I'm only asking for those things that require an explanation.  And this includes contacts, but not a book, ok?


Character Selection:  This is going to be the odd part.  I am not going to just blindly take the first 5 characters submitted, because it's a good chance I'll get 3 Samurai's and 2 Mages.  And that won't be good.  So what I'm going to do is just ask that people post the character that they want to play in this thread, and in about a week I'll sort through them and select the team I think will do the best for this.  I know this goes against the standard here, but it's a system that I've found works really well as it forces people to be solid in their character creation.

I cannot stress enough that noobs are more than welcome in my games.  I fully encourage everyone who is interested to please submit a character, regardless of experience level with Shadowrun or 5E.  I'd rather you try than to say "Well, I don't know anything so I'm not going to get picked".  So please - at least try.

I also cannot stress enough that you should create the character (or select the pre-gen) that YOU want to play.  Don't ask me what I'm looking for, or what I think you should create, or what I think may make your odds better.  I'm not the one playing the character - you are.  So create what you want to play.


Final Thoughts:  That should cover it.  If I missed something, then something is wrong with me.  But, in the event I did, please ASK QUESTIONS.  I'm not perfect, and I'll be the first to admit it.  But if you don't ask, I don't get the chance to correct my mistakes.

Good luck to all, and once again, thank you for reading this.


Submitted Characters
Csjarrat - Decker; Combat Adept
Chrona - Adept
Serafina - Mage
Panzergeist - B&E Adept; Technomancer
Dragonfire - Decker/Face
Crunch - Street Samurai
Ren - Face/Secondary Support
All4BigGuns - Street Samurai
obidancer - Street Samurai
mtfeeney = Baron - Mystic Adept

[Syrinx]

As I mentioned in the other post I'm very interested in playing.  I think I've settled on an alcoholic dwarf who just so happens to be a firearms expert as well.  I'll hopefully have a character to post up in the next few days!

[Panzergeist]

I'd like to throw my hat into the ring for the covert physical combat guy- or depending on how you look at it, the wild card 5th slot. 

I used to play Shadowrun, both in person and PBP, a few years ago.  Mostly 4E, though I briefly started out on 3rd.  Eager to get back in the game.

Just finished (well, mostly finished) my first 5E character.  He's an adept who has, up until now, largely made his living from a mix of burglary and con artistry, with the occasional paid surveillance job thrown in, plus moonlighting as a freelance journalist under one of his fake SINs.  His skill set is a mix of social, infiltration, and close combat.  He can double as a pretty good face, though he's not totally min-maxed for it.

The character also has a monowhip weapon focus, and he's damned good with it.  Despite having the potential to be a lethal assassin though, he isn't one (not yet at least), and mostly tries to avoid violence.  One thing I want to explore with this character is his internal struggles between violence and non-violence, selfishness and loyalty, and honesty and dishonesty.  He's a bit ambivalent about his inner dark side, and sometimes feels torn between wanting to be a good person, and wanting to take care of himself and follow the advice of his mentor spirit (Raven).

[Serafina]

Well, i registered for the chance to join this game.
I have a few years of experience playing Shadowrun in-person, and some general PbP-experience.

I am currently finishing up (=spending some leftover NuYen) a SR5 character.
Said character is a combination of Mage and Decker and conceptually heavily inspired by The Laundry Series - basically, she sees magic as Applied Mathematics, using programming principles to invoke calculations that draw forth entropy and entities from other universes.
She will mostly use Alchemy Preparations - inscribe circuitry on a Hand of Glory to prepare an Invisibility spell, use a SCORPION STARE neural chip to dissolve enemies with a camera (Acid Wave Preparation) etc. - and Ritual Magic. Which obviously makes her a support mage, i'm not planning on any spellslinging. Plus, it'll explore the new aspects of magic in 5E.
Since she is using math and computing principles, she's obviously also good at computer stuff. A decent Cyberdeck, high Logic and the necessary skills, if not at the same level as a focussed Decker.
All that obviously comes at a drawback - she's not any good at physical stuff, and pretty screwed if she isn't prepared.

Since i realize that the character occupies two slots (magic character and matrix character), i'm quite willing to tone down the Decker aspect if need be or - preferrably - play second fiddle to another Decker.

Regards
Serafina

[Sichr]

I have week vacation and 5e pdf on disc, so Ill try to come up with any kind of character, probably some kind of version of Zach (see my signature for reference).

[Csjarrat]

Hey mate, would like to apply for a slot as i need to get these 5e rules in my head. got a street sam or a hacker for you: heres what i've got so far. hacker needs a bit of work before i'm happy with this though.
Overt combat adept:
[spoiler]Combat Adept:
Attrib A
Mag B (mag6 + R4 skill)
Skills C (28/2)
Gear D (50k)
Meta E (EDG3)

Attributes:
BOD 4
STR 4
AGI 5
REA 4 (7)
CHA 3
INT 5
WIL 3
LOG 2
EDG 3

Skills:
Electronics group R2
Sneaking R4 (free)
Perception 5
Pistols 6 (9) (semi auto 8 (11))
Heavy weapons 4
Gymnastics 4
Blades 4 (swords 6)
Etiquette 2 (street 4)
Assensing 2 (bought with 6 karma)

Adept powers:
Improved reflexes 2(3) (2.5pp)
Improved ability 3 (Pistols) (1.5pp)
Astral Perception (1pp)
Combat Sense 2(4) (1pp)
Enhanced accuracy (Pistols) (free-Mentor spirit)
Danger sense R1 (free-Mentor spirit)

Qualities:

Positive:
Mentor Spirit: Dragon slayer (5 karma)
{+2 etiquette modifier}
Ambidextrous (4 Karma)

Negative
Allergy (pennicilin) Mild, uncommon (5 karma)
Distinctive style: Qi focus tattoos (5 karma)
Mild addiction: Nicotine (4 karma)
Astral Beacon: 10 karma

Gear:
______________________________
Foci:
Force 4 Improved Reflexes Qi Focus (1 level) 12,000 (8 karma)
Force 4 Combat Sense Qi Focus (2 levels) 12,000 (8 karma)
Force 2 Weapon Focus (Katana) 14,000 (6 karma)

24 karma used
______________________________
Armour:
Clothing 20

Lined Coat 900
-Concleable holster x4 600
-Non Conductivity 6 1500
-Chem Protection 6 1500            4645

Helmet 100
-Image link 25
______________________________
Electronics:
Transys avalon Commlink- 5,000
-sim module 100
-trodes 70

Glasses R4 400
-Vision Mag 250
-Thermo 500
-Flare comp 250
-Image link 25

Earbuds 50
-Audio enhance 1 500

Fake SiN R3 7500
-Fake Gun License 3 600
-Concealed carry R3 600
_____________________________
Weapons:
Katana (Weapon Focus) 1000

Yamaha Pulsar 180
-Laser Sight 125

Streetline Special   120

Beretta 201T  210    1285
-Gas Vent 3 600
-Laser Sight 125
-Hidden Arm Slide 350

Beretta 201T  210    1285
-Gas Vent 3 600
-Laser Sight 125
-Hidden Arm Slide 350

X4 spare clip (21 rounds) 20

Ruger SuperWarhawk   400
-Imaging Scope 300
x2 Speed Loaders 50

Remington RoomSweeper  250
-Laser Sight 125
-Gas Vent 3 600

Ares Antioch          3,200
(integral smartgun)
-Airburst link          600
-x2 HE grenades         200

69005
______________________________
Ammunition:
Hold out rounds: 10 regular rounds: 20
Light Pistol rounds:
-80 rounds in x4 clips +10 spares 180
-20 APDS rounds
Heavy pistol rounds:
-x20 APDS 240
-x20 Explosive rounds 160
-10 Flechette rounds 65
-20 Regular rounds 40
-10 taser darts


10 Karma Used
_______________________________
Knowledge skills: INT + LOG x2 = 14 points
English N
Gang Identification 4
Criminal Organisations 2
Japanese 3
Music 2
20th Century History 1
Combat Biking 2


Contacts: CHA x3 = 9 points
3,3 Fixer (Uzo Umbeki)
2,1 Armourer (Dana Wilson)


Squatter Lifestyle (1month)
_____________________________

Derren Smith, Human male, 31 years of age
Runner, born in Denver.
Starting running the shadows a year ago after finishing his military service.
He was discharged and struggled to find permanent work, hopping from low-paid security job to working the doors and back again.
He fell into the shadows under the auspices of well paid work, but soon fell foul of the corps.
A run against an EVO lab went sour, he fled the city and has been laying low, real low, in the seattle barrens 'till the heat dies down.
After several months of lying low, Derren's cash reserves are running low, so he's had to put feelers out in Seattle to try and earn a little cash. He's become pally with a fixer by the name of "Uzo", a Nigerian chap with connections throughout several of the gangs, as well as Dana; a hard working lass in the barrens gun markets who's got skills in repairing damaged kit.
[/spoiler]

Decker:
[spoiler]

A- Gear (450,000)
B- Skills (36/5)
C- Attributes (16)
D- Human (3)
E- Magic/Resonance (0)

Attributes:
Bod 2 (+1)
Agi 3 (+2)
Str 2 (+1)
Cha 2 (+1)
Rea(5)(+2)
Int 4 (+3)
Log 5 (+3)
Wil 4 (+3)

Ess 6 (3.7)
Mag 0
EDG 5 (2 base +3 special points)

Qualities:
Codeslinger: Hack on the Fly (10)
Allergy: Common, Mild (bee sting) (10)
Weak Immune System (10)

Skills:

Groups:
Cracking Group 5

Individual Skills:
Computer 5
Hardware 5
Software 4
Perception 5
Sneaking 6 -Urban
Pistols 5 -Semi automatics
Armourer 3
First aid 1
Pilot Ground 2 (karma)
Pilot Air 2 (karma)

Gear: 450,000 +20,000 from 10 karma

Deck:
Sony CIY-720 (7654) programs=5 345,000
-Simrig              1000NY
-Biometric reader     200NY

Common programs:
-Browse
-Configurator
-Edit
-Encryption
-Signal Scrub
-Toolbox
-Virtual Machine     560NY

Hacking Programs:
-Armour
-Baby Monitor
-BioFeedback Filter
-Decryption
-Defuse
-Exploit
-Fork
-Hammer
-Mugger
-Shell
-Sneak
-Stealth
-Track
-Wrapper             3500NY

Agent R3             3000NY

Commlink: Fairlight caliban 8,000NY
-Hot sim module 350
-AR gloves 150
-Trid projector 200
-Sub Vocal microphone 50

-Fake SiN R4           10,000
 +Fake Gun License R4     800
 +Fake Concealed carry R4 800
 +Fake Deck License R4    800
-Fake SiN R2            5,000
_________________________________________
Audio + Visual:

Goggles R6       300
-Radio signal 6  600
-Low-Light       500
-Image Link       25
-Ultrasound 6    600
-Motion Sensor 6 600
-Flare Compen    250        2875

Contacts R3      600
-Image Link       25
-Vision Mag      250
-Vision Enh R2  1000        1875

Earbuds R2       100
-Audio Enh  R3  1500
-Sound fil  R2   500        2100     6850
                                   390,260
_________________________________________

Armour + Weapons:

Defiance Ex-Shocker        250
-Laser sight               125

Fichetti Security 600      350
-Imaging scope             300
-x4 spare clips             20
-Hidden arm slide          350

Lined Coat (9)             900
-ElectroChromatic          500
-Concealable Holster       150
-Chem Protect R2           500
-Noncuctivity R4          1000

Clothing                    20           3565
                                       393,825

__________________________________________
Cyber + Bio

x3 datajack                  3,000
(each wrist + top of spine .3 ESS)

Reaction Enhancers R2 (second hand, .75 ESS)
Rigger Control R1           32,250
-Second hand (1.25 ESS)
                                        35,250
                                       429,075
_________________________________________
Rigger Gear

EasyMotors D-Master (data 4, firewall 4) 16,000
-Clearsight 6             480
-Maneuver 6               480
-Signal Scrub              80
 
Ford Americar          16,000
-Rigger Interface       1,000

FlySpy                  2,000
R3 camera                 300
-Low Light                500
-Vision Enhance 2       1,000
-Vision Mag               250
R1 mic                    100
Motion sensor             100

SB Micro-Skimmer        1,000
R3 camera                 300
-Vision Enhance 1         500
R2 mic                    100
motion sensor             100
_________________________________________
Misc

Medkit R1                 250
190 Rounds Standard ammo  385
                                        448615
                                        469615


Contacts =6 points
4(5),2 fixer (Janus, DataBroker)
_________________________________________
Low lifestyle 2,000
_________________________________________
Thomas "Dijj" Handleson
26 year old male human hacker.
brought up in corporate residence for AA company in seattle. attended corporate schooling @ tech college and then was given job within corp as a security staffer.
he worked his way through the organisation and became a trusted white hat for the security team, the corp paying for his cyber work to enhance his ability in his role.
his father worked for the same corp, he never knew his mother (left his dad when he was very young). his father took a transfer to a top-secret research lab for the corp, a few months later
died in service.
the corp never explained what happened, sent him a letter of condolence and then sacked him, blacklisting his corporate SIN.
this ensured he could never get any other work in the corp sector, and after a while trying to run freelance white hat work for smaller outfits, eventually fell into black hat work to pay the bills.
after several years pulling small scale remote hacks off, as well as data mining/surveillance for clients, he became a shadowrunner, and took on a more "hands-on" role with his hacking.
he plays in a guild on miracle shooter and is active on a number of hacker sites/communities. he has an active social life and likes to get out with his mates when not doing 'run work

 
25 karma spent
Bought Pilot ground vehicles 2
Bought Pilot aircraft 2
Improved connection rating for fixer to 5.
[/spoiler]

EDIT: Both characters updated with brief story, gear, lifestyles and contacts.

[mtfeeney = Baron]

I'll throw together a mage and post it here tomorrow or Tuesday.  For mystic adepts, are you going with the 2 Karma per PP from the book, or do you want to go with the 5 Karma suggested by Bull for a future errata?

[Redwulfe]

If there is a slot available I would like to put my hat in the ring. Here are some initial character concepts am willing to play any of them depending on what the team needs and what best fits the of story.

1. Ex combat biker who now works covertly in ares' field research division. Basically he goes out and tests experimental weapons, armor and drugs in combat situations. This was a concept a friend of mine played in a game a ran and it was really fun so I thought I would put it up here. This concept will act a bit unstable though as he needs to get shot to test armor or walk through metal detectors with illegal weaponry to see if they pass scanners and the such. He's basically a walking complication for the story.

2. I played a mystic adept face/infiltrator that was raised by a theatre troop. He has now real combat spells in his current iteration and belongs to a sociaty of stage hand that perform magic to enhance stage performances. He is a social infiltrator using spells like makeover, ration, and shapeshift to get into anyplace he wants, combine this with melonin control and the such and he can be anyone. In 5th many of these spells don't exist anymore but I would try to somewhat recreate him as a full Mage or some such. It is a concept that you don't need a combat heavy character to be usefull to a team and has worked well thus far.

3. My standby occult investigator LoJack. He is a basic magical research kinda guy your private detective type that in the modern world is not as lucrative as running the shadows. He tries to become legitimate though but his criminal SIN and shady past keep him locked firmly in the shadows.

4. The most magnify an't Decker I/O. Hacker extrodenair and the best cyber jock there ever was. A hit young kid working with the Neo-Anarchist policlub, I/O was on his way to becomming a street legend until a run in with a nasty black ice not only cost the Anarchists dearly but left him a shell of his former glory. Now drug addicted with a nasty rep for botching up he is struggling to make ends meet and regain his rep. His only friend left in the world a fixer just got him his one chance to become something again, hopefully this time he can keep it together and not get someone killed in the proccess.

Food for thought,
Red

[Scarecrow71]

If there is a slot available I would like to put my hat in the ring. Here are some initial character concepts am willing to play any of them depending on what the team needs and what best fits the of story.

Again:

I also cannot stress enough that you should create the character (or select the pre-gen) that YOU want to play.  Don't ask me what I'm looking for, or what I think you should create, or what I think may make your odds better.  I'm not the one playing the character - you are.  So create what you want to play.

Don't try to guess what will best fit the story, or what you think I'm looking for, or what you think the team may need.  Why?  Because what you may think the team needs is probably going to be vastly different than what I think the team needs.  And flopping between concepts in the hopes of getting something you think I may like won't guarantee you a spot.

I'll throw together a mage and post it here tomorrow or Tuesday.  For mystic adepts, are you going with the 2 Karma per PP from the book, or do you want to go with the 5 Karma suggested by Bull for a future errata?

I'm going with Bull on this one.  5 Karma, not 2.  I don't want to say that I'm using this because he's the expert, but I'm using this because he's the expert.

[Crunch]

I'm definitely interested. I'll try to polish backstory, but at the moment I'm thinking of using Beauregard, a dwarven PI who would fit as either the covert Street Sam or the other role.

[Sichr]

What about Street level / Prime runner? Allowed when backed by the story (done here in Urban Brawl PbP... )?

[Scarecrow71]

What about Street level / Prime runner? Allowed when backed by the story (done here in Urban Brawl PbP... )?

Can you clarify the question please?

[Sichr]

Chargen in 5ed has two alternatives: Street level and Prime runner. Im going to rebuild character Im using for Urban Brawl PbP - Zach. I was thinkig about the possibility to have prime runner starting karma buffer, so I can reflect his karma developement (cca 50 karma gained). It was just andidea, Im going to rebuild it with respect to new rules so not everything would be the same on the character and I have some experiences with him so I can avoid some glitches I noticed when playing him.

[Scarecrow71]

Chargen in 5ed has two alternatives: Street level and Prime runner. Im going to rebuild character Im using for Urban Brawl PbP - Zach. I was thinkig about the possibility to have prime runner starting karma buffer, so I can reflect his karma developement (cca 50 karma gained). It was just andidea, Im going to rebuild it with respect to new rules so not everything would be the same on the character and I have some experiences with him so I can avoid some glitches I noticed when playing him.

EDIT:  After reviewing the question further, I went to the book to check on Street Level vs. Prime Runner, and to see the alternatives for character creation.  After reviewing them, I am going to state that this will be standard build only.  No Street Level or Prime Runner options.  The basic build assumes a bit of experience on the street, but not to the extent that you know what you are doing in all situations.

The primary thing here is that I don't want to handcuff players with a new system right off the bat, and I don't have enough experience with 5E yet to start making adjustments to character generation without having a really good reason to do so first.  So we're going to use the standard build rules, and not any of the alternatives.

[Chrona]

http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=11758.0

Here is my entry, he's still undergoing some tweaking, he is a middle ground between Overt Combat and Covert Combat.

Name: Max Siegfried
Alias: Majuu
Team Role: Gunslinger, Adept, but could expand into a number of rolls once he gets some karma and nuyen on the job.
Nationality: SK-P (Megacorp SIN)
Ethnicity: German
Metatype: Ork
Background: Born into a family living in the Saeder-Krupp enclave in Germany, he was the only of his litter born with magical talent, but not much. He was fast tracked to the security program, being taught everything they could to one one move into either spec ops, heavy security, or field medic specialties. Then his parents were caught attempting to embezzle, the worst idea you can have when working for a treasure hording, magic, giant lizard. The family was punished and despite his aptitudes, Max was kicked out. He has since trained his magic and skills up as hard as he can and moved to Seattle (provisional but I assume you game is set there)  to try to make a new start, begrudgingly in the shadows. Trained in Corp Security he is apprehensive of going against the type of people who trained him but confident in his own skills and aware that corp sec usually wont kill runners if you are careful about the bottom line.

The Russian Andrei Glukov, an independent who is stationed in the warehouse district and handles black market arms in the area was the first person to ever hire Majuu in Seattle and Majuu tries to exclusively use him for gun sales and acquiring. His son was once shot in random gang violence, so while he does not mind runners he has a prejudice against gangers. His son was luckily saved by his best friend, the adept street doc Butcher. (Butcher is another 4th ed character of mine.)