[Tecumseh]

Who: GM + 3 to 4 players. One player has already expressed interest.
GM = me, dashingly handsome with 24 years of playing/GMing experience but limited to PbP games for the moment.
Players = no Anarchy experience necessary, but PbP experience is a big bonus. Ideally you'll be someone who enjoys writing and exploring the Sixth World.

What: A combat-heavy PbP Anarchy game. The basic premise is that you are Sioux Wildcats on a behind-the-lines mission. I'll post more details if there's enough interest. Character generation will be Prime Runner, with some added perks for being badass Wildcats. (Also some constraints. For example, negative qualities shouldn't be anything that would disqualify you from service.)

When: In-world time will be January 2077.

Where: North America. You'll be behind UCAS lines on a covert op.

Why: It's going to be Anarchy for two reasons:
1) Because I haven't played Anarchy before and want to; and,
2) there's going to be a lot of combat and it would take literal years to go through it via PbP with proper initiative rolls, complex and simple actions, etc. I don't want to focus on the minutiae; I want to explore the characters and the world. You're Wildcats, so you're going to be the deadliest things on two feet. Given your physical superiority, I am more interested in how to you react to evolving situations.

The basic thinking is that 3-4 players will be enough to cover the Meat/Magic/Matrix trinity. A rigger will be useful. One character will be the officer-in-command and will be the default decision-maker if the players can't OOCly come to a consensus about a course of action.

I have successfully GM'd two PbP games to completion, largely through stubbornness and force of will. I've been paying attention to other Anarchy PbP games to get a sense of the pros-and-cons. In some ways, PbP is perfect for the system since it allows for lovingly crafted descriptions of the game world. In other ways, it's difficult to leverage every aspect of Anarchy gameplay. (For example, it is next-to-impossible to interrupt someone to interject a plot point.) This will be a bit of an experiment as we figure out what to keep and what to skip.

As for the question of GM control vs. player control, I would suggest that we tackle the first chapter in a more traditional arrangement (with the GM at the helm, puppeting the NPCs and adjudicating rolls) and then migrating to a less-centralized arrangement in the second chapter once we've established a rapport both OOCly and ICly.

That's the high-level vision. I'll take questions for a couple weeks before making the go/no-go call.

[rednblack]

Just got my very own copy of Shadowrun Anarchy.  I'm sure it will take me a day or two to get my footing, and possibly another one or two to write up a char, but I'll post one here when I have.

Cool concept.

[MDMann]

If this is still open I'd be interested.

I've plenty of pbem experience, as gm and PC. I'm reasonably familiar with shadowrun lore/fluff.  Most of my recent gaming has been in Harn, which is a bit crunchier than shadowrun.

[Jayde Moon]

Me me me.

I've been monitoring for the past month for a PbP to come up.  I'll play whatever

[Tecumseh]

MDMann, Jayde Moon, thank you for your interest. Prodigy, if you're following along, this is for you too.

I'm going to try the same thing I did on the other thread, which didn't really work and is why the thread dried up.

Here is another game I am running. This is my posting style. Please review and see if you're comfortable with narrative posts:

http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=23178.180

Storytelling is central to Anarchy and will require a group effort. For example, Jayde, your IC posts for your Shaking Down Shadows games were all relatively short. Now I will give you credit for running four games at once (holy crap), and now find yourself unencumbered, but I wanted to set expectations up front about what sort of posts I'll be looking for. Storytelling can happen with fewer words than I use, but everyone needs to be comfortable advancing the plot.

If everyone could review a handful of posts from that thread and reply in the affirmative that you are still interested, we will move forward.

FYI, I will be away from my computer most of the day tomorrow (Friday) but should be able to post over the weekend, or on Monday at the latest.

[Jayde Moon]

Oh, posting won't be an issue

[MDMann]

I could do with tightening my writing, so lengthy posts aren't an issue. I'm in.

[Jayde Moon]

For the sake of planning, my preferences for character roles are in descending order:

Assault/Ranged Support (the Gunbunny)
The Mage
Hacker
Rigger

But I can play any of them.  I am a 20 year vet still active, so can realistically RP rank structure and responsibilities if no one else is comfortable with or wants to take on the leadership roles.

I'm not super familiar with the character creation rules in Anarchy and am going over them, but the mechanics and playstyle are easy to grasp (kind of one of the point of Anarchy).

I do a lot of GMing, am excited to play a character and play it in this narrative style where I don't necessarily have to wait for others to post before I extrapolate on things

[rednblack]

@Tec, that's three if you feel comfortable posting more details that could help us with character creation.

@Jayde, with your real-world experience, I think you'd be great in the leadership role.  Given the rarity and the high esteem placed on awakened people in the NAN, I'd say spell slinger would be a natural fit, but I could see gun bunny working as well.

I've always shied away from riggers, but Anarchy might be just the kind of game to give one a shot.  There seems to be a lot of stuff missing as far as drones are concerned, so I'll need some char-building advice if I go that route.  It looks to me like most VR actions would still be based on AGI -- Piloting and Shooting specifically.  Does that look right, Tec?  If so that makes for some interesting choices on Cyberware Amps v. Drone Amps.  For example, choosing Wired Reflexes 2 (3 Amps) gives 1 extra attack and a Plot Point per scene while Custom Gun Drones 2 (3 Amps) gives 2 extra attacks but no additional Plot Point.  That extra attack is awful temping, but I think the additional Plot Point might be more fun to play with. 

[Jayde Moon]

I'm happy to go awakened... might do something along the lines of mystic adept.

Given the type of game, I think everyone would be involved in forward assault tactics, so it's fine.

Alright, then, I'll start putting something together!

[MDMann]

I'd be thinking (in no particular order),

A physadept medic
A cybered face or
A gunbunny

I'd probably need help with the build (though I'm not bothered by optimisation).

[Jayde Moon]

Hrm...

If you went Physad Medic, I did the assault, rednblack is the rigger... we just need a hacker... though it's possible to double up on hacker/rigger duties?

Haven't heard yet from Prodigy.  Also, with 4 players, are we going ot have an NPC fill out the 5 man team?  Or are we a special 4 man squad?

[rednblack]

Depending on what our Matrix needs are I was hoping to go straight rigger and maybe spend a Shadow Amp on Matrix Hardening, or something like that to protect our gear. The limited Skill Points would make double duty hard to pull off.

ETA:if MDMann plays the Physad medic, having a spell slinger would still be ideal.  A Physad will need high LOG for defense, so he shouldn't be spread out too thin, but I think we'd still want a team member with access to the Spirit realm and spell casting.  Since this is combat heavy, we'll definitely want to be able to double up on Heal spells and Medkits.  I'm planning on taking Engineering, so we can repair Armor as well during down times. 

I think I've got my Attributes, Shadow Amps, Qualities, and flavor down, mostly.  I'm struggling with Skills.  Here's what I'm thinking, which puts me way over 5.

Survival: I can't see a Wildcat not having this, even if he's a pilot.
Stealth: Ditto above, and absolutely necessary for covert-ops.  Possible exception here is if I can use Vehicle tests to simulate Stealth
Vehicle Weapons: Of course.
Firearms: Maybe I can just default on this with high AGI, but again I can't see a Wildcat not having at least a point here.
Pilot (Ground): It's what I do.
Pilot (Other): Also what I do. 
Engineering: Good for repairing vehicles, drones, and armor when we can catch a break.

So, that's 7 Skills that I need to pare down to 5. 

[Jayde Moon]

Yeah, the limit on skills is a weird thing to deal with.

It's like, you'll eventually be great at 5 things but will never get better in anything else...

It's almost self defeating, in the quest to streamline so that you can tell an engaging story, you are boxing up your characters and limiting some of their options for telling an engaging story...

But will have to make it work.

[Tecumseh]

As I mentioned in the initial post, chargen rules are going to be different because you are Wildcats. There will not be a cap on the number of skills you can have at chargen. Quite the opposite; see below.

I don't have much time to post now - rednblack, I'll get to your drone questions later - so here are the guidelines I came up with a month ago when this was first under discussion. We'll use these as a starting point and then tweak as the characters roll off the presses. Here are the steps from the book and what you should do for each.

1. Create a Character Theme (Character Name) - You've already started on themes.
2. Choose Game Level - Prime
3. Choose Metatype - Any of the core races
4. Decide if your character is Awakened or Emerged - Any
5. Assign Attribute Points - Any, but be wary of dumpstats
6. Assign Skill Points - Due to your rigorous training, you are understood to have ALL ACTIVE SKILLS at a base rating of 2. Exceptions include the Awakened and Emerged skills. Yes, that's still 20 skills that you know. Of course you may add your 14 skill points to the base rating of 2 as you see fit. Would an actual Wildcat be even more awesome than this? Probably, but we need to leave some room for improvement via karma.
6a. Knowledge Skills - You are understood to know things relevant to military training and tactics, including Plains Indian sign language, so pick something else.
7. Add Shadow Amps - Let’s start with the base 14 and see what the characters look like, with the understanding that karma will help develop some of the amps as we play. See below for house rules.
8. Add Qualities - SINner (Sioux Nation) is your default Negative Quality. If you wish to take another negative quality for story/character purposes - one that wouldn't preclude you from service - you may pick a third positive quality too to compensate.
9. Assign Armor - Everyone gets full body armor (12) with Insulation (because it will be winter) without paying a skill point for it. If you want to upgrade the armor (e.g. chameleon coating) you have to shadow amp it.
10. Select Weapons - The base 3 weapons (any), but you must be able to carry them all on your person simultaneously. You will have a chance to change this later as you learn about the op and decide how you want to kit out for it.
11. Select Gear - You are understood to be carrying the basics, like a tactical communication system, glasses or goggles if you don't have cybereyes, multitool, etc. Pick other things.
12. Create Cues - as usual
13. Create Character Background - as usual
14. Final Tweaking - as usual

Other notes: we don't really need a face in the sense of the Negotiation and Con skills. I'm not saying those skills won't get used, but we don't need a character dedicated to them.

Three players is enough, especially with the skill boosts listed above. We can accommodate a fourth if one shows up. I will not be NPCing anyone. If you drop, you die. More on this later.

Knowing the above, you are free to tweak your concepts. A fire support gunbunny, a mysad/medic, and a rigger/decker would cover all bases. That said, the fire support could just as easily be from magic as bullets, which could then free up the medic to be a pure physad if that's what MDMann prefers.

House Rules
1) Assault Rifles are -2 at Near ranges. This is to provide a use-case for SMGs and machine pistols.
2) An individual piece of bioware and cyberware will never cost more than its base Essence, even if you upgrade it. Cyberarms will never cost more than 1 Essence, for example, no matter what their shadow amp level is. This is to provide mundane characters an equal opportunity to advance as Awakekend characters without being limited by Essence.
3) Others as I think of them, or as the group raises questions.

From a balance perspective, my primary concern is summoning. Per usual, spirits are ungodly powerful. We'll either come to a gentleman's agreement about them or we will figure out some way to implement them where your standard spirit isn't a Prime Runner straight out of the astral. Don't even get me started on Greater Spirits.

There will be semi-regular karma awards that will be meaningful. They will allow you to upgrade your character. The upgrades do not need to make sense in the continuity of the game. Your shadow amps will magically upgrade themselves. This is a pleasant fiction that's more fun than the alternative.

Important note: the target of the Wildcat op is an armed forces base in the UCAS. I'd like to explicitly confirm that everyone is comfortable shooting up fake future soldiers. Jayde, I'm looking at you. Lethality is not required, nor even necessarily desirable. The goal will be to destroy a radar installation. No loss of life is necessary, but sometimes they don't soak as well as you shoot.