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Zilfer

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« on: <05-08-12/1235:18> »
Sometimes you have players that totally are oblivious to their own ridiculousness. Wanted to share what one of my players has come up with and wants me to use in our current campaign. So here goes nothing….

He wrote up a company based around his character’s family. Four sister’s (each heads of their own divisions in the company), a mother, and the Father(who owns the company). Me and another of my players were discussing his idea yesterday having fun time reading the rainbow type world he was painting with this company.

Apparently, I’ll just highlight a few things that I can remember. They are accepting of all Metahumans(fine sure), they accept mages to protect them, they were attacked by hackers and had to fire off an EMP knocking out 5 mile radius of eletronics and then proceeded to make their systems differently so they were less hackable by the outside world(o.O’ was that EMP really necessary?). During said event in order to protect them while they got back up they had Cyborgs at the border protecting them. The Dwarves live underneath the Corporate land (like in dnd) and have sealed off tunnels and built further fortifications so no one can enter from below. Did I mention a good deal of them are smiths for those who don’t approve of guns and prefer the sword?

Let’s see what else…. Hmmm well there’s the fact that everyone is trained in combat. EVERYONE. <.< well then. But of course their peaceful and get along, and all the metahumans work together and have gotten past their racism. Sounding like Sour patch kids, had children with Care Bears and gave them guns. xD

Back to the family, almost all of them have connection 5 ratings and loyalty 6 when he made his character. Alright family is family, however! Corporate family can’t be good, and while he’s not a big part of the company (I picture him as the under achiever in the family, as a shadowrunner mage).

So here I am trying to think of how this family would look, they all get to the dinner table and I’m picturing all his loyalty 6 sister’s like their younger brother but only because he isn’t competition in the company. I can’t image the sister’s like one another, and I can almost see them at each other’s throats but pretending to be nice and kind to maintain appearances.

His character would see one of them is sick, (aka poisoned by another sister) and the family just acts as normal sweet at the dinner table but secretly trying to gain the upper hand. xD

I just look at his creation and shake my head knowing that if I do include it, I’d tear down a good deal of what he’s written(not with malicious intent but to add drama), or at least change his perspective of it. If anyone wants to see the actual write up for a few rolling eyes moments and laughs let me know.

Main reason for the topic was to help create a few ideas that could happen, because as I said he wanted to include them a bit into the storyline. So anyone got any ideas?

*Tries to hold back an evil GM smile*


Disclaimer, I do like the fact that he probably spent a good deal of an afternoon writing up as much as he did and he cared enough to do such, but he does not know how to tone down his writing, from making everything super and uber. XD 44 mages/adepts guarding a person and scouting out the routes of the sisters before they go anywhere is a bit excessive.... xD Thanks for any dropped comments.
Having access to Ares Technology isn't so bad, being in a room that's connected to the 'trix with holographic display throughout the whole room isn't bad either. Food, drinks whenever you want it. Over all not bad, but being unable to leave and with a Female Dragon? No Thanks! ~The Captive Man

Critias

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« Reply #1 on: <05-08-12/1344:43> »
I would just...do this.  Write a list of the awesome and exceptional things he imagines this company having.  Ready?

Exceptionally metahuman friendly or extremely magically active for extra security or aligned with a weirdly stereotypical band of dwarves for extra security or extremely cyborg heavy for extra security or equipped with special electronics that are difficult to attack from outside the facility or combat trained personnel (with a penchant for swordplay) or all getting along despite what should be poisonous corporate/family greed.

And then?  I'd tell him to, like, pick two or maybe three.  That'll give it a stronger theme, a more realistic feeling, and make them less all-over-the-place and just generally impossibly awesome.

Maybe they're a badass security company called Gladius Enterprises, and they've got a disproportionate number of heavily cybered guards, and make a big point of branding their company with archaic weaponry, so every employee gets swordplay lessons at the annual company retreats, with fitness/fencing offered.  So you've got lots of employees swaggering around the office with (ornamental, but functional) swords on their hips, and manager-types might even have monoswords and stuff...but the real power lies in the cybernetically augmented security force (also with a penchant for melee), because the company specializes in combat augs.

Or maybe they were initially backed, when the company was founded, by two families, not one.  One is the PCs family, of course, but the other was the father of a dwarven family, many of whom suffered from sunlight allergies (as was often the case in earlier editions, when all metahumans had to have allergies), so they just embraced the stereotype and chose to live underground.  Now the company's got extensive underground facilities beneath their main office, with production running day and night, nonstop, 24/7 (granting them a productivity bonus compared to their primary competitors, and a practical security boost, as well), and the friendliness between the two families has kept them all getting along well.  Everyone in upper management is sincerely on board with their sense of community, and family members are concerned with doing their job first and foremost, not looking like they're doing their job by backstabbing each other.

Or maybe the company's founder -- dear old dad -- was remarkably open minded.  In the first decades following the return of magic and the waves of goblinization, etc, he was in mild awe, not terror, of what was happening to the world around him.  He was one of the earliest employers to offer incentives to magically active and metahuman employees, and many of those workers' children have stuck with the company (despite so many other corporations now doing the same)...even opening up the facility as a safe haven during the Night of Rage and other ugliness, decades ago, which cost him financially but built him a rabidly loyal core of dedicated metahumans and magicians, many of whom feel their families owe the business a great debt.  Now they're way out of their "weight class," so to speak, when it comes to magical security, and have built a strong reputation and loyal client base thanks to their metahuman-friendly attitudes.

Or whatever.  Like, pick two or maybe three strands of awesome he's wanting, weave them together, focus on them, and make them make sense.  Make it clear to him that he should still be concerned first and foremost with playing his Shadowrunner (and not trying to turn the game into a corporation simulator video game or something), ask him how the unique traits of the company tie into his character -- did he learn combat magic or swordplay from corporate security?  Does he maintain contacts with metahuman rights groups because of his upbringing?  -- and...well...other than that, just explain to him that "his" company can't be super mega awesome special at everything at once, just like a player character can't cover all the bases.

Tell him you appreciate the time and effort he put into it, but that as conceived right now, it's a little over the top.  Ask him to focus on a couple of things that really jump out at him as being awesome, and maybe sweeten the pot with a free contact or a bumped-up skill or something, if he impresses you with his revisions.
« Last Edit: <05-08-12/1603:27> by Critias »

JoeNapalm

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« Reply #2 on: <05-08-12/1504:25> »

Critias, I applaud you. +1

As an Evil GM Mastermind, I love to see my players put this kind of effort into the game. I really do.

I really like Critias' advice. My own is similar, though perhaps mine is...less benevolent. If one of my players wants a LOT of rope to hang themselves with, I'm more than happy to keep playing it out.

I think I would start with this:

Back to the family, almost all of them have connection 5 ratings and loyalty 6 when he made his character. Alright family is family, however! Corporate family can’t be good, and while he’s not a big part of the company (I picture him as the under achiever in the family, as a shadowrunner mage).

He's the black sheep - most of the family adores him, but he is a Shadowrunner. Anytime he runs to The Family for help, those high Connection ratings will mean that they have more pressing matters. Of course, any player worth their pizza will run down the list of Family until he rolls that 5 or 6 he needs to make contact.

You say ALMOST all of them. Is there any family member he DIDN'T include and buy up a ton of loyalty with? An oversight like that gives you a hook to pivot the whole thing on. Sort of the Loki to his Thor, the Set to his Osiris, the Romulus to his Remus...sibling rivalries are the best rivalries. Even if he DIDN'T overlook one of them, as the GM you can always add one! You don't get to pick your family!

Then all of the resources that the player has so lovingly crafted and so blithly handed over to his picture-perfect family so he could go play in the Shadows are in the hands of his greatest nemesis.

Also of note - no one...and I do mean NO ONE...devotes those kinds of resources to defense unless they have a serious threat to defend against, real or perceived. An entire colony of abnormal dwarven smiths? Sounds like someone pissed off a Great Dragon, if you ask me. Why else have hordes of cyborgs, mages, and combat-trained secretaries? EMP with a FIVE MILE blast radius? 44 Mages and Adepts to guard each sister wherever they go? Heck, forget the Great Dragon - I'd go for some Cthuhlu-esque horror from the Outer Dark. Perhaps Mummy and/or Daddy cut a deal with an uber-powerful being to get their Camelot?

And now...now the bill has come due.  MUHAhahaha haaa! (Oh, sorry about the maniacal laughter, it just bubbles up, now and then...*Grin*)

Just keep playing out the rope, and this industrious player will write out a whole campaign worth of gilded terrors for you.


-Jn-
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Zilfer

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« Reply #3 on: <05-08-12/1545:50> »
Thanks for speedious replies! As always I'm amazed by the ideas thrown about and how freely they are given. :D

I don't have time to read them fully at the moment but i will when i return home. From what i read there's some good stuff. +1 to both of you.
Having access to Ares Technology isn't so bad, being in a room that's connected to the 'trix with holographic display throughout the whole room isn't bad either. Food, drinks whenever you want it. Over all not bad, but being unable to leave and with a Female Dragon? No Thanks! ~The Captive Man

Walks Through Walls

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« Reply #4 on: <05-08-12/1933:56> »
I like Joe Naplam's ideas, but nothing says it has to be an NPC that your player missed buying up.
Who is to say there isn't another black sheep from something like daddy wasn't quite always faithful to the misses, and now this unknown player is using leverage against daddy to get power in the company.
Or that the player is the result of the indiscretion, but the sisters don't know and the wife lets him be because she is using the secret to get something she wants.
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Zilfer

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« Reply #5 on: <05-09-12/1248:56> »
I like Joe Naplam's ideas, but nothing says it has to be an NPC that your player missed buying up.
Who is to say there isn't another black sheep from something like daddy wasn't quite always faithful to the misses, and now this unknown player is using leverage against daddy to get power in the company.
Or that the player is the result of the indiscretion, but the sisters don't know and the wife lets him be because she is using the secret to get something she wants.

Interesting, he hasn't bought loyalty with mother or father at all, and I may just use this idea to create a bit of drama. I can see a run being about getting a specific woman's blood, for some unknown reason that his father wants.... <.< (in case of DNA testing he can replace it? Incase there's ever a question about him being a bastard child? o.O' might explain why he's an under achiever xD)
Having access to Ares Technology isn't so bad, being in a room that's connected to the 'trix with holographic display throughout the whole room isn't bad either. Food, drinks whenever you want it. Over all not bad, but being unable to leave and with a Female Dragon? No Thanks! ~The Captive Man

nakano

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« Reply #6 on: <05-09-12/1356:53> »
I dunno.  The whole thing reads a little bit like a cult to me.   8)

And those big contacts could be the ring leaders.  And really be that loyal, but also interested, long term in bringing him into the fold.

Tee hee hee...

CitizenJoe

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« Reply #7 on: <05-09-12/1852:39> »
I kinda read it as everyone is adopted because ma and pa can't have kids... mostly because they are some sort of abominations against nature and are using all of this as a means of shielding themselves from prying eyes.  Maybe ma and pa are free spritis.

raggedhalo

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« Reply #8 on: <05-14-12/0458:15> »
I dunno.  The whole thing reads a little bit like a cult to me.   8)

And by "cult," you mean "Universal Brotherhood-style super-hive."

Those dwarves?  Termite spirits.  Your dad?  Insect Shaman?  Your mom?  She's a Queen now.  Same goes for your sisters - maybe of different types of spirits.

Those augmented guards?  Warrior spirits.

And the PC?  Far be it from me to suggest you get him to take the Judas Flaw and have him be a "good merge" flesh form, but...
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Zilfer

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« Reply #9 on: <05-14-12/1317:42> »
Heh, ouch. That player didn't show up this last game because of Mother's day weekend (apparently the rest of my  group is heartless bastards. haha! Shadowrunners! xD)

Anyways that last post would definately suck for someone. I reposted Critias' post qouting him on our DnD board to suggest he tone it down or i may have to take a few of your guy's ideas and see how the game turns out.
Having access to Ares Technology isn't so bad, being in a room that's connected to the 'trix with holographic display throughout the whole room isn't bad either. Food, drinks whenever you want it. Over all not bad, but being unable to leave and with a Female Dragon? No Thanks! ~The Captive Man

Maded

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« Reply #10 on: <05-22-12/1901:48> »
Apparently, I’ll just highlight a few things that I can remember. They are accepting of all Metahumans(fine sure), they accept mages to protect them, they were attacked by hackers and had to fire off an EMP knocking out 5 mile radius of eletronics and then proceeded to make their systems differently so they were less hackable by the outside world(o.O’ was that EMP really necessary?)..

Totally. Except for the fact that EMP bursts would have negligible results. Most electronics are optics based. So there's a huge kink in that plan!
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Zilfer

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« Reply #11 on: <05-22-12/1924:07> »
I haven't talked to the player for a week or so but, i plan on getting back to this for him. Yeah i didn't think an EMP would blanket all electronics... I just can't imagine everything being wiped out and if it was, some critical systems would probably turn the place into a riot zone worse than the night of rage!

xD

Funny you have a somewhat similiar topic on the board. :P
Having access to Ares Technology isn't so bad, being in a room that's connected to the 'trix with holographic display throughout the whole room isn't bad either. Food, drinks whenever you want it. Over all not bad, but being unable to leave and with a Female Dragon? No Thanks! ~The Captive Man

Maded

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« Reply #12 on: <05-22-12/2001:33> »
Funny you have a somewhat similiar topic on the board. :P

Misery loves company? ;)
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Teknodragon

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« Reply #13 on: <05-23-12/0248:25> »
The power supplies would be knocked out, though. Still need electricity to generate those photons in the optic chips. Though, now I have an idea for a chemlight-powered chip...
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Maded

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« Reply #14 on: <05-23-12/0813:29> »
The power supplies would be knocked out, though.

The power supplies that aren't shielded, anyway. Most would be, though. Especially the ones operated by government or corporate agencies. Precisely to keep a five-mile radius of infrastructure from easily being crisped, as in the OP's player's description of events surrounding an apparently AAA status (yet tiny) corporation's existence ;)

I'd definitely say no way to that one, but ymmv.
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the WAR ROOM!