NEWS

Who are the most notable Technomancers in the 5e world?

  • 74 Replies
  • 14201 Views

Jack in the Box

  • *
  • Newb
  • *
  • Posts: 21
« Reply #30 on: <08-19-18/1140:27> »
What I want to see (and please read through to the end) is we learn that Clockwork has always been a self-hating Technomancer and, now, he has been outed and is running into trouble with his old bigot comrades as a result.  He reaches out for help.  Slammo and Netcat argue over whether to help him.  Netcat wants to help him, Slammo doesn't.  Netcat eventually convinces Slammo to help.  Clockwork sacrifices his own life in order to save Slammo's.  Clockwork's last words are something like, "Tell Netcat I'm sorry."  Nevertheless, both Clockwork and Slammo die.  This changes Netcat who becomes much more active in social justices for technomancers (even more than she already is).  She is now the single parent of a young boy and decides that she needs to stop shadow running.  She becomes an in-house consultant for GOD.  She rises quickly in the ranks and she leverages her growing influence in GOD to look out for the needs of technomancers.  She also, slowly, becomes a true-blue believer in the GOD company line.  But, over time, she has looked too long into the abyss and she begins showing signs of losing the ability to distinguish right from wrong.  Finally, the head of GOD gets assassinated.  Startlingly, some evidence which Netcat is the first to discover suggests that Clockwork did it.
« Last Edit: <08-19-18/1144:20> by Jack in the Box »

Mirikon

  • *
  • Prime Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 8986
  • "Everybody lies." --House
« Reply #31 on: <08-20-18/0041:33> »
I'll be honest, Jack... that sounds like the SR version of Days of Our Lives, or As the World Turns.
Greataxe - Apply directly to source of problem, repeat as needed.

My Characters

Marcus

  • *
  • Prime Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 2802
  • Success always demands a greater effort.
« Reply #32 on: <08-20-18/0726:27> »
Lets keep in mind Clockwork work is famous for EATING his fellow runners. I agree with Mirikon. The only thing I wish for Clockwork is two rounds in the head.
*Play-by-Post color guide*
Thinking
com
speaking

Jack in the Box

  • *
  • Newb
  • *
  • Posts: 21
« Reply #33 on: <08-20-18/0759:06> »
Thank you both for the constructive criticism.  I'll use it for the second draft.

I didn't know Clockwork has ate his fellow runners.  I mean, DAYYUM!! :o

Mirikon

  • *
  • Prime Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 8986
  • "Everybody lies." --House
« Reply #34 on: <08-20-18/1113:27> »
Yeah, literally the only reason Clockwork is on Jackpoint is that he is a good rigger with a different POV than TurboBunny (and less BTL issues). No one actually LIKES him. It is the same as with Puck, or Haze. People actively hate them, and for good reason. But they are on the site because they have useful info and are not locked in to the same viewpoint as others.
Greataxe - Apply directly to source of problem, repeat as needed.

My Characters

Longshot23

  • *
  • Omae
  • ***
  • Posts: 952
« Reply #35 on: <08-20-18/1330:53> »
Clockwork as a TM and ensuing wackiness sounds like it should get dealt with in dribs & drabs, maybe with a couple of infodumps to set the stage, as it were. Not front plot stuff, is what I'm getting at.

I'm sort of surprised there hasn't been any [more] movement by Clockie against Netcat & Slamm-0!'s child, even if handled the same way.

Incidentally, i thought it was Rigger X who had that whole 'collect info on fellow runners & sell it' M.O.

SpellBinder

  • *
  • Omae
  • ***
  • Posts: 348
« Reply #36 on: <08-20-18/1351:28> »
The notable difference I see between Rigger X & Clockwork is professionalism.  If Rigger X screws your hoop it's just business, but if Clockwork screws your hoop it's personal.

Mirikon

  • *
  • Prime Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 8986
  • "Everybody lies." --House
« Reply #37 on: <08-20-18/2306:55> »
Rigger X is an asshole, but he's a professional asshole. Clockwork is, well, a bigot, pure and simple. That he gets paid to hunt down people he hates and give them to people who are sure to make them experience hell, well, that's just icing on the cake. He's getting paid to do something he'd do anyway.

And the only reason Clockwork hasn't moved against Netcat and Slamm-O!'s kid is because he's been told rather pointedly that the entire Jackpoint board would likely be hunting him if he did. And he is a bigot, but he isn't stupid enough to believe he can beat those odds. Especially since he's a rigger, not a hacker, and Jackpoint has some of the best hackers in the game.

As a side note, one of the most interesting things I saw was that back in 4e, after Netcat got pregnant, she was reading the boards one day when morning sickness came along, and you got some crazy stuff in that instant. It was one of those little things that highlighted how TMs interact differently with the Matrix than other users.
Greataxe - Apply directly to source of problem, repeat as needed.

My Characters

Longshot23

  • *
  • Omae
  • ***
  • Posts: 952
« Reply #38 on: <08-21-18/0212:59> »
Yeah, I remember that post of Netcat's. Very intriguing . . .

There was some theorising on which Jackpointers would come down on whose side too. Entirely non-canon, of course . . . .

Captain Corruption

  • *
  • Newb
  • *
  • Posts: 3
« Reply #39 on: <08-21-18/0225:19> »
Have they ever explained why Clockwork hates TMs?

PiXeL01

  • *
  • Errata Team
  • Ace Runner
  • ***
  • Posts: 2264
  • Sheltering Orks in Osaka
« Reply #40 on: <08-21-18/0654:10> »
From what I understand he ate the whole “Nothing in the World is safe from TMs” propaganda. He entirely livelihood is matrix based but constantly threatened by rogue TMs (in his mind at least). He sees them an abominations, freaks that cannot be of nature and must be put down.

I’ve never liked TMs either. I skipped the entire 4e and when I came back and read about them it was just “yuck, matrix magicians, just what the setting needs”.
I still dislike them, find them unnecessary... but I know many love them, so ... guess it comes from being a child of 2e.

As for tolerable TMs I honestly prefer Puck. The Netcat/Clockwork thing is just as old and tiring as the constant Fuji/novatech/whatever Villiers company going down in flames- thing :/ Puck at least is nicely unpredictable with streaks of both black and white. That he and Pax used to be Otaku is a bit bummer actually. Killing them off with Deus and build up new villains would have been better
If Tom Brady’s a Spike Baby, what does that make Brees and Rodgers?

Mirikon

  • *
  • Prime Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 8986
  • "Everybody lies." --House
« Reply #41 on: <08-21-18/0953:28> »
Pixel, the problem is that you skipped 4e, where TMs weren't 'matrix magicians'. They were essentially spiritual successors to the otaku of earlier editions, and had a distinctly different style of play from 'normal' matrix users. It was 5e that turned them into 'matrix magicians', in the process of screwing up the rest of the Matrix, of course.

If you can find a copy of the Emergence campaign book, give it a read, and the TM chapter in Unwired. That'll explain a lot of what TMs were intended to be. Otherwise, it is like trying to talk about the Universal Brotherhood without reading the Missing Blood book, or Deus without reading the Shutdown book.
Greataxe - Apply directly to source of problem, repeat as needed.

My Characters

Michael Chandra

  • *
  • Catalyst Demo Team
  • Prime Runner
  • ***
  • Posts: 9920
  • Question-slicing ninja
« Reply #42 on: <08-21-18/1035:21> »
Pax works brilliantly for Lockdown. I so want to set a campaign in that plot one day.
How am I not part of the forum?? O_O I am both active and angry!

PiXeL01

  • *
  • Errata Team
  • Ace Runner
  • ***
  • Posts: 2264
  • Sheltering Orks in Osaka
« Reply #43 on: <08-21-18/1258:51> »
I have read most of the lore of 4e, but never understood the need for a character that can do everything “magically”?
If you want to rig why not be a Rigger? Same with with hacking.

From various forums reactions to what happened to the archetype in 5e it sounded to me like their were too powerful to begin with.
If Tom Brady’s a Spike Baby, what does that make Brees and Rodgers?

Mirikon

  • *
  • Prime Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 8986
  • "Everybody lies." --House
« Reply #44 on: <08-21-18/1430:21> »
I have read most of the lore of 4e, but never understood the need for a character that can do everything “magically”?
If you want to rig why not be a Rigger? Same with with hacking.

From various forums reactions to what happened to the archetype in 5e it sounded to me like their were too powerful to begin with.
Only when taken out of context. TMs were glass cannons, who were less effective in the meat world than a mundane hacker or rigger would be (because augmentations hurt their abilities). Because their Matrix condition track was their Brain, getting into matrix combat, any matrix combat, was dangerous. I like to compare them to D&D 3.X Wizards and Sorcerers. A 3.X Wizard has an insane number of things they can do, to the point where a prepared high level wizard who only has one fight that day is going to destroy pretty much anyone not made of antimagic fields, but they run out of gas quickly, due to limited spell slots. On the other hand, a Sorcerer has a more limited playbook, but they have more HP, can use their spells longer, and are generally more specialized. In this case, a Hacker would be like a Sorcerer, while a TM would be a Wizard. They are similar, but have different playstyles, different strengths and weaknesses.

The problem with 'arena' comparisons, which is what people did comparing a Hacker to a TM who threaded one obscenely powerful complex form were doing, is that what works in a single combat means crap all when you're on a 'dungeon run'. Because TMs were glass cannons, and were weaker than hackers in the meat (more attributes and skills to buy, buying their initial complex forms, not having augmentations, etc.), their weaknesses were more obvious once you were on the second or third encounter of a run, they took a hit in the meat which is hampering their Matrix stuff, and so on. When you're actually in play, TMs had better burst capabilities, and could adapt to new things better, but they were less resilient if you didn't give them time to sleep off their stun between encounters.


As for the 'need' for TMs? They were the spiritual successors to the Otaku of older years. And because a lot of people dig the technomystic, transhumanist streaks in the game, introduced in no small part by the otaku, and expanded upon by the growing forms and abilities of augmentations over the years, moving a cyberarm, for example, from 'necessary to replace a lost limb, and into 'voluntary upgrade' territory. Transhumanism, as in a desire to make oneself more than human, has been present throughout the game, to greater or lesser degrees, but as runners began shifting away from rabid neo-anarchists out to stick it to the man, and towards 'professional criminals that may or may not have agendas', that transhumanist element grew.
Greataxe - Apply directly to source of problem, repeat as needed.

My Characters