[Lorebane24]

Also, it looks like there is enough interest here to go ahead with a game and close recruiment.

[Tecumseh]

There are four of us, which is good number of players for PbP, but we don't have any hacking, casting, summoning, or drones. Maybe that's a good thing if the journeyman GM wants to keep things streamlined, but there are gaps when compared to a traditional team composition.

As for the options, from high-to-low I'm probably 4/1/2/3. I still like my Sioux OMI idea.

[Lorebane24]

Ah, I thought we had 5 for some reason!  And yeah,  good point on the party roles.  Id be comfortable with up to two more players, I think.

[Jack_Spade]

Actually, that sounds like a game where we don't have to worry about the more unbalancing aspects (I'd have totally played a Matrix focused char if the new book was already out)

Having an NPC Hacker would make a lot things faster if the team just has to apply a Data Tap to get things hackyfied. We can hurt spirits and drones just fine, so it's not necessarily a requirement to have a mage or a rigger on our side.

As for our team: How about a Sioux Nation sponsored, easily disawoved black ops runner team...

[Beta]

Even if we went with the Private Investigation firm angle, it wouldn't rule out the Sioux black ops side of things ... say that 'Charlie' (who could be a hacker?) was Sioux black ops and has set up a PI company in Seattle as cover.  Possibly seeding it with some of his own people but also hiring in others to make it less obviously an intelligence front.  Not all of the characters would then have to have that Sioux black ops background. 

[gilga]

PS I am still playing around, so far I have a nice aspected sorcerer, face and B&E kind of guy.

I am also open for decker/techno/rigger if we want to have it in the game.

[Lorebane24]

I think that Beta makes a pretty good point about game style.  I'm warming more and more to the idea of a PI team, which I'm kind of seeing as basically being a team of shadowrunners with an office, with the lesser anonymity and venier of legitimacy that comes along with it.

[Tecumseh]

Here's what I was thinking for my cyberlimb monster. I rarely play mundane characters, and this is one of my first characters with cyberlimbs. I was concerned about overlap with gilga but that might be less of a concern if he's cooking up an aspected sorcerer. (As an aside, I'm very excited about the possibility of both an aspected sorcerer and a traveler in the group.)

As previously stated, he's the sneaky-shooty-stabby type. The background is that he was a weak, sickly kid, who was underdeveloped due to his parents' persistent drug habits. After a childhood largely spent in a wheelchair - which was social death in the hypermasculine Sioux culture - he inherited enough money to make his dreams come true. Those dream primarily revolved around being a physical badass, so now he's celebrating his (purchased) physical gifts while emulating the Sioux macho men that he always wanted to be. His value to a PI team would be through his B&E skills and his powers of perception, which he honed throughout his youth while consistently sitting on the sidelines. There was nothing else to do but watch, so he watched, and became a good observer in the process.

== Personal Data ==
Street Name: Machk

== Priorities ==
Metatype: B,3
Attributes: E,0
Special: E,0
Skills: B,3
Resources: A,4

== Karma Spending ==
-25 Positive Qualities
+25 Negative Qualities
-20 Attributes (Logic 2 and Charisma 2)
-4 Skills (Con 1 and Computer 1)

== Attributes ==
BOD: 4
AGI: 1 (10 for all limbs)
REA: 5 (8)
STR: 3 (12 right arm, 10 left arm, 5 legs)
CHA: 2
INT: 6
LOG: 2
WIL: 4
EDG: 5

== Derived Attributes ==
Essence:                   0.04
Initiative:                14 +1d6
Physical Damage Track:     8
Stun Damage Track:         10

== Active Skills ==
Close Quarters Skill Group: 5

Automatics (SMGs) 5 (+2)
Locksmith (Maglocks) 5 (+2)
Perception (Visual) 5 (+2)
Sneaking (Indoors) 5 (+2)

Etiquette (Corporate) 1 (+2)
Disguise (Camouflage) 1 (+2)
Gymnastics (Leaping) 1 (+2)
Palming (Legerdemain) 1 (+2)
Pilot Ground Craft (Wheeled) 1 (+2)
Tracking (Urban) 1 (+2)
Con 1
Computer 1
      
== Knowledge Skills ==
Logic 2 + Intuition 6 = 8 * 3 = 24 free points
English N
Lakota 3
Or'zet 3
Drumming 3
Firearms (Automatics) 2 (4)
Seattle Area Knowledge 3
Sioux Nation Area Knowledge (Butte) 4 (6)
Cybertechnology 4


== Contacts ==
Heather Huxley (Street Doc), C: 3, L: 3 - three free Connection points
Tricky Nicky (Identity Broker/Forger), C: 3, L: 3 - six chargen karma for Contacts

== Positive Qualities ==
Agile Defender
Biocompatability (Cyberware)
Jack of All Trades Master of None
Perfect Time
Redliner

== Negative Qualities ==
Family Curse
Impassive
In Debt (2)
Lightweight
SINner (National) (Sioux)

== Lifestyle ==
Group Lifestyle (1 month)

== Cyberware/Bioware ==
Bilateral Coordination Co-processor
Damper
Nephritic screen Rating 5
Obvious Full Arm, Used (AGI 10, STR 10, Physical 11) (Left)
   + Customized Agility Rating 6
   + Enhanced Agility Rating 2
   + Customized Strength Rating 8
   + Submachine Gun
   + Sound Suppressor
   + Armor Rating 3
   
Obvious Full Arm, Used (AGI 10, STR 12, Physical 12) (Right)
   + Customized Agility Rating 6
   + Enhanced Agility Rating 2
   + Customized Strength Rating 8
   + Enhanced Strength Rating 3
   + Spurs
   + Armor Rating 3
   + Shock Hand

Obvious Full Leg (AGI 10, STR 5, Physical 8) (Left)
   + Customized Agility Rating 6
   + Enhanced Agility Rating 2
   + Armor Rating 2
   + Hydraulic Jacks Rating 6
   + Skimmers
   + Radar Sensor Rating 4
   + Smuggling Compartment

Obvious Full Leg (AGI 10, STR 5, Physical 8) (Right)
   + Customized Agility Rating 6
   + Enhanced Agility Rating 2
   + Armor Rating 2
   + Hydraulic Jacks Rating 6
   + Skimmers
   + Internal Air Tank Rating 3

Olfactory Booster Rating 4
Reaction Enhancers Rating 3 (Used)
Sleep Regulator

== Armor ==
Armor Jacket                       12
   + Chemical Protection 4
   + Fire Resistance 4
   + Nonconductivity 4
Custom Ballistic Mask              +2
   + Gas Mask
   + Vision Enhancement Rating 3
Zoé: Executive Suite               12
   + Custom Fit
   + Newest Model

== Weapons ==
AK-97
   + Gas-Vent 3 System
   + Personalized Grip
   + Shock Pad
   + Smartgun System, Internal
 
Cyber Submachine Gun
   + Smartgun System, Internal
 
Ingram Smartgun X
   + Gas-Vent 2 System
   + Smartgun System, Internal
   + Sound Suppressor

Grenade: Flash-Bang x5
Grenade: Fragmentation x5
Grenade: Gas (Pepper Punch) x5
Grenade: High Explosive x5
Shock Hand x5
Shuriken x5
Throwing Knives x5
Spurs

== Commlink ==
Transys Avalon (ATT: 0, SLZ: 0, DP: 6, FWL: 6)
   + Subvocal Mic
   + Trodes

== Gear: Equipped ==
Ammo: APDS (Submachine Guns) ×100
Ammo: APDS (Assault Rifles) ×100
Ammo: Explosive Rounds (Submachine Guns) ×100
Ammo: Explosive Rounds (Assault Rifles) ×100
Ammo: Gel Rounds (Submachine Guns) ×100
Ammo: Gel Rounds (Assault Rifles) ×100
Ammo: Stick-n-Shock (Submachine Guns) ×100
Ammo: Stick-n-Shock (Assault Rifles) ×100
Autopicker Rating 6
Bug Scanner Rating 6
Contacts Rating 3
   + Image Link
   + Smartlink
   + Flare Compensation
C-Squared Rating 6 ×5
Earbuds Rating 3
   + Sound Link
   + Audio Enhancement Rating 2
Fake SIN (UCAS) Rating 4
   + Fake License (Blades) Rating 4
   + Fake License (SMG) Rating 4
   + Fake License (Assault Rifles) Rating 4
   + Fake License (Optical & Imaging Devices (cybereyes w/ smartlink)) Rating 4
   + Fake License (Restraints) Rating 4
   + Fake License (B&E Gear) Rating 4
   + Fake License (Driver's License) Rating 4
   + Fake License (Bodyguard License) Rating 4
   + Fake License (Bounty Hunter's License) Rating 4
Flashlight, Low-light
Gecko Tape Gloves
Glasses Rating 4
   + Vision Enhancement Rating 3
   + Thermographic Vision
Jammer, Area Rating 4
Micro-Transceiver
Miniwelder
Restraint, Plasteel ×5
Slap Patch, Stim Patch Rating 6 ×2
Slap Patch, Tranq Patch Rating 6 ×2
Slap Patch, Trauma Patch ×2
Survival Kit
Tag Eraser

== Vehicles ==
Suzuki Mirage (Racing Bike)       
   + Sensor Array Rating 2

== Description ==
The smallest ork you've ever seen, but with huge, jacked cyberlimbs. He's obviously overcompensating.

== Background ==
Strong. All Machk ever wanted to be was strong. He was born small, weak, and clumsy. This might have been the result of Machk's mother chemical dependencies while he was in utero. His father wasn't much better.

The saving grace - sort of - was that both his parents were gainfully employed. Indeed, it was their corporate employment and the stresses involved that led them to their addictions. His parents recognized their own failings even if they felt powerless to overcome them. They had Machk outfitted with a top-of-the-line nephritic screen, which simultaneously curbed his desire for the same substances while also keeping him emerge from his sickly youth. While still dumb, weak, and clumsy, he no longer was in danger of dying from a bad flu.

Machk's parents were killed in a car crash, likely due to their driving while impaired. Machk took his inheritance and began to invest in cyberlimbs that would compensate for his small genitals physical liabilities. In short order he became fast and strong, although he's still on the dumb side.

Machk inherited his parents' addictive tendencies. Instead of expressing these through chemicals or chips, Machk finds himself under the spell of cyberenhancements. He is not yet a cyber singularity seeker, nor does he suffer from super-human psychosis, but he's well on his way to both. His limbs are redlined and he's ready to rock in the service of anyone who can underwrite future or better cyber enhancements.

[Lorebane24]

So with two Sioux characters so far, I had an idea for merging what seem to be the most popular premises right now.  How does this sound?

You guys are are brand new PI agency whose startup was discretely sponsored by the Sioux government as a plausibly deniable asset in Seattle.  They have a couple of agents (the Sioux PCs) placed there, but by and large the agreement is that the agency has been provided with the resources to get off the ground - an office to work out of and a few contacts - and will sustain itself, but sometimes they will be approached by a client representing the Sioux nation, and they are expected to take the jobs this guy offered at the pay offered, no questions asked.

[Jack_Spade]

Great, I'm totally on board with that.
Detailed background for Bobby will follow

[Beta]

Background sounds good, Lorebane -- gives you all sorts of hooks into the group, and gives us good character options.

Roster so far looks like:

Tecumseh -- Machk -- cyberlimbed sneaky-stabby
Jack Spade -- Bobby -- (Sioux black-ops?)
Gilga -- ? -- still playing around with concepts (aspected sorceror / face / B&E / ?)
Beta -- ? -- still playing around with concepts (traveler-face-lite / full face / 'Medium' (lite mage) / ?)

[Tecumseh]

I like the premise but it does raise some additional questions. Would the other PCs know and/or understand the nature of the agency? If so, would they care?

I'm just looking down the road for potential conflicts, like Jack or I technically being the bosses if we're the Sioux agents, which my character is grossly unqualified for. (Bobby could use Intimidate, I suppose, which can come across as PVP if we're not careful. Super Human Psychosis and "Did you just call me dumb" would make him an interesting manager.)

If we want to loop in more players, we might want to cross-post with the Looking for Games thread. Not many people browse the play-by-post thread anymore.

[Beta]

In some ways smaller groups are easier in PBP, because there is less chance on any given day that someone wasn't able to post, (or worse is off on vacation for two weeks with no net access).  There even becomes that near mythical potential to get through two rounds of posting in a day(!). 

On the other hand, obviously less character abilities, fewer player interactions, and one person being offline is a bigger chunk of the total, etc.

But overall, four seems like a pretty reasonable number to me.

================================
@Tecumseh I was reading your character sheet and looking at what you are doing with the cyber-limbs (I'm a bit wobbly on the rules and options, so was curious to see a dedicated build), and I was just curious about one thing  For example:

Obvious Full Arm, Used (AGI 10, STR 10, Physical 11) (Left)

I'm not sure what the "Physical 11" means?  (also the combo of redliner and this build .... yikes, do not get punched by him!

[Lorebane24]

Valid concerns raised Tecumseh.  Perhaps "representatives" might be a better word than agents?  I forsee this as, essentially, the Sioux providing the seed money for a startup that will be able to help them in turn.  I figure the PCs would be aware that the money is coming from the Sioux, and the whole thing is a little shadowy, to keep up some modicum of deniability, but basic agreement is "We're setting you up so you can do jobs for as needed.  We got you an office and all the necessary contacts and resources (which, surprise, surprise, mostly have some sort of tie to the Sioux).  From here on out, you run yourselves, but someday, sometimes, you'll get an offer from "Agent X."  If you don't do the jobs he offers, you can expect this little network we've established for you to dry up fast."

The Sioux PCs don't necessarily have to be agents, but could be Sioux contractors that have been places there with the expectation that they will steer the agency away from jobs that would cross with Sioux interests.

So I guess you'd be almost like Sioux privateers, just without the ship.

[Tecumseh]

@Lorebane Sioux privateers sounds good me! Who has the letter of marque?

Bobby and I both have some modest debt, which might have inspired us to accept some Sioux seed money.

@Beta I agree that small groups can work well for PbP. We have a bit of an All Star team here, in terms of experience, so that's encouraging too.

"Physical" is Chummer's way of referring to the limb's Physical limit. That said, Physical Limits get wonky with cyberlimbs, since the Strength (and thus the Limit) can vary per limb. Some GMs track Limits per limb, some use an average for the whole body, some use a combination of the two depending on the nature of the test, others ignore cyberlimbs altogether (which might work if you just have one but is an extreme interpretation if you have four of them).