[Aria]

I’m gauging interest for ‘something slightly different’, if there is enough we’ll get it going in the next couple of weeks.  I am considering, given the abominable load times here at the moment, recruiting here and then running the game on Dumpshock, please let me know if you would like to play but this will cause a big problem for you and we’ll see what we can work out!

***

A fight for survival in a semi post-apocalyptic setting; inspired by films like the Hunger Games and Maze Runner and TV like The 100; a group of children and young adults will strive to stay alive long enough to find out why they are here and just what the hell is going on!  Blame will no doubt fall on the corps, or technos, or dragons…just about anyone could be behind it, are you brave enough to pitch in and find out?

As part of my ongoing 2075/6 game world, I’m looking for players to take on the role of children dragged from their normal lives (as normal as things get in the SR universe anyway) and thrust into a strange and lethal environment by forces unknown.  Initially I want this to be a short game, about three to four months real time, if it seems to be going really well I could extend this of course.  It will be fairly freeform so people may well drop in and out and I will be deliberately vague about where everyone is so that there’s scope for that and for new people to pitch in whenever they want to.

The protagonists will be children between 12 and 21, from all walks of life, who wake up with no real idea of where they are or how they got here.  The environment is hot and desolate, there’s no world spanning matrix to connect to and no sign of civilisation to appeal to for help.  Terrain is similar to the Calfree State, a mix of mountains, forest and desert.  The group is about 40-50 strong, about two thirds male, with roughly a bell curve in the age distribution, the majority being 15-16 years old.

It will be fairly RP heavy and I will dodge as many dice rolls as I can.  You will have a fairly free rein to post IC events provided it doesn’t contradict what someone has already posted.

Character Gen:
Sum to 8, runner build

Race:
Metahumans and metahuman variants only, so no pixies, shifters, infected or AIs. 

Attributes:
Minimum Willpower of 4 please (there are reasons!)

Qualities:
All positives are fine (apart from possibly Restricted Gear), I will have a veto on negative qualities that won’t affect the game in any way, eg. Day Jobs.  SIN qualities are fine because it will be representative of how others in the group view you and what inevitable cliques you might end up in (or shit list you end up on!).  Amnesia is a particularly prominent negative quality among the group but only level 1, I don’t have the brain capacity to deal with lvl 2!

Gear: 
You’ll start with no equipment at all other than some flats, there will be a broken open crate of basic food rations and sterilisation tabs.  The only gear you can carry with you are implants, gene mods and tattoo qi foci (Given the notes below I might be persuaded to allow other foci to be taken as tattoos).  Bear in mind that you’ll need to justify where any mods came from, particularly for one of the younger children.

Magic:
Be warned, there will be a permanent background count of 2 at all times (possibly higher in really bad places), so that’s -2D to all actions aided by magic.  That should be a hefty disadvantage so you’ll need to be smart about spells / powers and their use.

Matrix:
No gear so no matrix access.  No wifi bonuses for installed gear.  Implanted commlinks will be able to talk to each other and any TMs, any technos will be able to communicate amongst themselves freely within a certain range (no mesh to project the signal through).  That’s not to say that you won’t encounter matrix tech, but certainly not to begin with.

Contacts:
Don’t worry about these for now, they will represent a pool of points that can be allocated during the game as and when needed.

Advancement / Rewards:
As this is part of my 2075 campaign any rewards can be used on any game, although as this one is a little different any cash rewards won’t be applied to this one and gear will be acquired through the game IC.

***

Character concepts can either be posted here or in the master OoC thread which will be used for all the OoC once the game kicks off.  All players need an Obsidian Portal account (it’s free to get one!) and maintain their character there.  Bonus karma is awarded for good background, character images etc as per the OoC outlines.

[Beta]

Intriguing!  (now to decide if I have bandwidth for another game, but this sounds really interesting ...)

And I have to ask, since you were the one who made me aware of it, are adepts with 'heightened concern' OK?

[adamu]

Aria - said I would do this when you floated the idea months ago, and always try to be true to my word.

Even made up a character for it back then, but that's lost in the apocalyptic nightmare that is my desk.

Will stat him back up soon.

Yes, it's non-monogamous of me, but i think it is okay if it's just for a one-off.

I am seeing as young as you'll allow (12?), child of a rich, old money family with Victorian values. Been raised to inherit power and use it responsibly. As such has had a lot of rigorous education and training to that end. Also some high-end, very civilian ware - mental enhancers or stuff to keep you alive in car crashes, stuff rich people would give their kids.

Let me know if any of that is a problem!

[Aria]

I've always believed Heightened Concern should have read Concentration and call it that myself! No problem with an adept with that power in theory!

[Raiderjoseph]

Does this tie into the main story? Because if not I could see a younger Vexboy in this. As a matter of fact when I thought up his backstory I saw more of him as a little kid then as the finished product adult he is now.

[Aria]

Does this tie into the main story? Because if not I could see a younger Vexboy in this. As a matter of fact when I thought up his backstory I saw more of him as a little kid then as the finished product adult he is now.

For reasons I won't spell out now that would be fine

[Beta]

I've thought  long enough to say i'd like to take part.   Very-very tentatively I'm thinking of the babysitter from hell, that kid who has taken on even the most spoiled corp brats and come out alive (and has some basic safety and security training, because when you are working in those circles it is required). More or less a face, but without the awe inspiring dice pools that runner faces may have.  I haven't attacked the build yet to see if I can make it work out in a way I'm happy with.

[Raiderjoseph]

Ok so the concept I am working on is a alternate universe Vexboy or in this case Vincent Elmas where he was raised by his parents (Who loved him) as a corp schooled kid in Renraku. He was diagnosed with high functioning autism and in keeping with that had no idea what the hell was going on when people talked to him. He got picked on a bit growing up. (Corp brats can be quite cruel) but everything changed when he ended up Awakening at 10.

His magic rating was high for his age and it glew like a beacon in the astral. His awakening also came with a special perk. He had a totem. The Dragonslayer decided to cut the kid a break and help guide him through life. He ended up learning to fight back. The Dragonslayer taught him a lot of his powers(Adept Accident became a passtime for him.) and encouraged him to pick up skills to make life a lot easier. This ended up making his awakening EXTREMELY obvious(Well if the Beacon didn't give it away).

He was put into a "tutoring" program to help "Guide youths to productive usage of their magical abillites." If Vincent knew he was being militarized by a vile corporation only seeking to make him a living weapon to be used against Renraku's enemies he honestly didn't know what to think. He only wanted to keep following his totem.

The past 2 years have made them very close and he wants to walk in his saviors footsteps. Thus he discovered the Spirtual Way and never walked back. And life was about to be interesting... in all the wrong ways. Personality wise he is rather cheerfree and oblivious. He talks loudly and has no grace in any social situation. If he doesn't want to be seen. He is gone. If he does, he makes his presence known. Simple as that.

He is oblivous to many of the aspects of the Sixth World. A wageslave's kid. Never even met an orc, troll, or dwarf(he has seen the latter from afar though. Just never talked to one.). And he hardly knows any of the hard truths about the 6th World. The only thing he knows about Shadowrunning is that its is illegal. Thats it. But with Aria's blessing he is about to find out and its gonna be a bitter redpill to swallow im sure.

Here is his sheet for approval.

[Spoiler]
-- Priorities --
Metatype D (Human)
Attributes C (16)
Magic B (6)
Skills C (28/2)
Resources E (6000)

-- Karma Expenditure --
25 Starting Karma
-5 for Mentor Spirit: Dragonslayer
-4 for Ambidextrous
-14 for Exceptional Attribute: Magic 7
+10 for Astral Beacon
+15 for Corporate Limited SIN (Renraku)

Remaining
7
-- Attributes --
Body 3
Agility 6
Reaction 3 (6)
Strength 2
Willpower 4
Logic 2
Intuition 3
Charisma 1
Edge 4
Essence 6.00

Initiative – 4d6+9
Physical Condition Monitor - 10
Stun Condition Monitor - 10
Overflow Boxes - 3
Physical Limit - 4
Mental Limit - 4
Social Limit - 4

-- Qualities --
Mentor Spirit
Ambidextrous
Exceptional Attribute: Magic
Astral Beacon
SINner: Corporate Limited SIN (Renraku)
The Spiritual Way:
Current Discounts:
Mystic Armor
Killing Hands
Improved Physical Attribute

-- Skills --
Pistols 6
Automatics 2
Longarms 2
Sneaking 6
Perception 6
Acrobatics (Priority B Bonus Skill) 4
Armorer 2
Intimidation (Mental) (Dragonslayer Bonus) 2 (6)
Unarmed Combat 3
Blades 2
Clubs 2

-- Skill Groups --
Broke Close Combat 2 by adding 1 point to Unarmed Combat

-- Knowledge/Language Skills –
English: N
Japanese: 2
Street:
Child Psychology (Bullies): 4 (6)
Interests:
5th World Fiction (Anime): 2 (4)

-- Augmentations/Magic/Adept Powers --
Enhanced Accuracy: Pistols
Danger Sense Rating 1
Improved Reflexes Rating 3
Combat Sense Rating 1
Killing Hands
Mystic Armor Rating 2
Nimble Fingers
Trackless Step
Rapid Draw
Adept Accident

-- Gear --


Remaining Money -  + ()

-- Contacts --
[/Spoiler]

[Irn0rchid]

So with your intention for characters to be able to drop in and out if needed, I felt like it was a good opportunity for one that might not make it the whole time without being aggressively 'voted off the island' but that would be interesting with a cliquey group of children.

14yo female aspected black magic conjurer with a chaos mentor spirit and 'imaginary friends':
[spoiler]Lindsey never had parents. Well, obviously she had parents or she wouldn't exist, but she never knew them. Her earliest years were a caricature of a normal family life as she was passed from home to home, only of interest to her 'parents' for as long as the checks kept coming. As she got older, the lack of true caring from the people around her became more and more apparent and she started to act out in an attempt to get an honest reaction, any reaction at all really. And, as with anything you practice at, she eventually got really good at it. So good that even the money coming in started to be insufficient to balance out the trouble she was causing. Shortly after she turned eight years old she got tired of the increasing feelings of inadequacy from being passed around like a hot potato and ran away from 'home'.

Life on the street was... different. There's no feeling quite like being alone in a crowd. Sure, you get the occasional person asking where your parents are, but they don't really care, it's just what they're supposed to do. On the plus side, noone expects a tiny child to be the one that just lifted the credstick from their pocket, and yet, there she was with money for another meal. She... subsisted... yes, that's a good word... in this way for months. Keeping track of time seems to lose its importance when all your energy is being devoted to keeping yourself fed. The only thing that was changing in her life was the loneliness that just kept growing. Turns out, there was something worthwhile in those people she abandoned, even if it wasn't apparent then.

It was about this time that she found Eris. Older, bigger, self-assured... happier... Eris was everything Lindsey wanted to be. Along with Eris came others; not permanent fixtures like her, but they made up for their transientness with their numbers. The days where a bunch of them would play with her were her favorites, although she was always worn out by the end of them. Not everything was roses and sunshine though, she was still living on the streets, and those streets seemed to be getting meaner. For some reason the animals in the alleys and the sewers and the darkness were becoming more aggressive and actually attacking her now. Weird animals too, ones she had thought were just in her imagination, but yet there they were. Luckily, most of the time her new friends were there to help her fend off the attacks, but some times it was just her, and those times were hard. More than once Eris found her curled up in an alley, scratched and bleeding, and helped her call friends to tend her wounds and explain to her how she could do better next time.

Eris somehow knew Lindsey was still lonely and so encouraged her to try and find other people to associate with. Lindsey started to be more social, talking with the street vendors, playing with other kids, acting as lookout for the corner gangs. She quickly discovered, though, that noone other than herself could see Eris or her other friends, and talking about them too much led to uncomfortable situations. With time her confidence increased and she became accepted in a number of different groups, welcomed even. Eris' tone started to change a little bit then, becoming darker, more sinister. She started encouraging Lindsey to play a new kind of game. To turn people against each other so that they'd seek solace with her instead of their friends. To trust her. It wasn't really much different than what she used to do with her foster families, just more hidden. Engendering the reaction she wanted turned out to be a good bit harder than just causing any reaction at all, though, and so she ended up moving around frequently as she wore out her welcome when her activites were discovered. Practice, again, makes perfect, and she had no shortage of practice, so by the time she was fourteen she had managed to stay in the same place for over a year. Keeping track of the dynamics of the multiple gangs of children in that area was now virtually impossible for an outsider as she kept the pot stirred just enough to ensure no lasting bonds could form with anyone except herself. A rumor here, some innuendo there, convincing someone to say something incriminating with the help of her friends, but none of it could be pinned on her. She somehow managed to stay just out of the fray, the impartial newcomer that, for some reason, everyone trusted more now than they did their longtime 'friends'. She'd found her family.[/spoiler]

Stat block:
[spoiler]
== Info ==
Name: Lindsey
Movement: 10/20
Karma: 0
Street Cred: 0
Notoriety: 0
Public Awareness: 0
Human
Composure: 11
Judge Intentions: 10
Lift/Carry: 2 (15 kg/10 kg)
Memory: 8
Nuyen: 5000

== Priorities ==
Metatype: E - Human
Attributes: B - 20 Attributes
Special: B - Adept, Magician, or Technomancer
Skills: C - 28 Skills/2 Skill Groups
Resources: E - 6,000¥

== Attributes ==
BOD: 1
AGI: 5
REA: 3
STR: 1
CHA: 5
INT: 5
LOG: 2
WIL: 6
EDG: 2
MAG: 6

== Derived Attributes ==
Essence:                   6
Initiative:                8 + 1d6
Rigger Initiative:         8 + 1d6
Astral Initiative:         10 + 2d6
Matrix AR Initiative:      8 + 1d6
Matrix Cold Initiative:    5 + DP + 3d6
Matrix Hot Initiative:     5 + DP + 4d6
Physical Damage Track:     9
Stun Damage Track:         11

== Limits ==
Physical:                  2
Mental:                    5
Social:                    8
Astral:                    8

== Active Skills ==
Animal Handling            : 0                      Pool: 4
Archery                    : 0                      Pool: 4
Armorer                    : 0                      Pool: 1
Assensing                   : 6                      Pool: 11
Astral Combat              : 6 [Spirits]            Pool: 12 (14)
Automatics                 : 0                      Pool: 4
Banishing                  : 6                      Pool: 12
Binding                    : 6                      Pool: 12
Blades                     : 0                      Pool: 4
Clubs                      : 0                      Pool: 4
Computer                   : 0                      Pool: 1
Con                        : 6 [Fast Talk]          Pool: 13 (15)
Cybercombat                : 0                      Pool: 1
Demolitions                : 0                      Pool: 1
Disguise                   : 0                      Pool: 4
Escape Artist              : 0                      Pool: 4
Etiquette                  : 6 [Street]             Pool: 11 (13)
First Aid                  : 0                      Pool: 1
Forgery                    : 0                      Pool: 1
Gunnery                    : 0                      Pool: 4
Gymnastics                 : 0                      Pool: 4
Hacking                    : 0                      Pool: 1
Heavy Weapons              : 0                      Pool: 4
Impersonation              : 0                      Pool: 4
Instruction                : 0                      Pool: 4
Intimidation               : 0                      Pool: 4
Leadership                 : 0                      Pool: 4
Longarms                   : 0                      Pool: 4
Navigation                 : 0                      Pool: 4
Negotiation                : 0                      Pool: 4
Palming                    : 1 [Pickpocket]         Pool: 6 (
Perception                 : 1                      Pool: 6
Performance                : 0                      Pool: 4
Pilot Ground Craft         : 0                      Pool: 2
Pilot Watercraft           : 0                      Pool: 2
Pistols                    : 0                      Pool: 4
Sneaking                   : 1                      Pool: 6
Summoning                  : 6                      Pool: 12
Survival                   : 1                      Pool: 7
Throwing Weapons           : 0                      Pool: 4
Tracking                   : 0                      Pool: 4
Unarmed Combat             : 0                      Pool: 4

== Knowledge Skills ==
Cantonese                  : 4                      Pool: 9
English                    : N                      Pool: 0
Gangs                      : 4                      Pool: 9
Japanese                   : 4                      Pool: 9
Or'zet                     : 3                      Pool: 8
Russian                    : 4                      Pool: 9
Sperethiel                 : 4                      Pool: 9
Sprawl Life                : 2                      Pool: 7
Underworld                 : 1                      Pool: 6

== Qualities ==
Aspected Magician
Computer Illiterate
Linguist
Mentor Spirit (Chaos)
Spirit Affinity (Man)
Spirit Bane (Beasts)
Spirit Whisperer
Uneducated

== Bound Spirits ==
Spirit of Man - James - F6 - S3
Spirit of Man - Simon - F6 - S3
Spirit of Man - Marie - F6 - S3
[/spoiler]

[Beta]

Two quick questions:
-   Do the characters have to come from a particular area (e.g. Seattle), or will they potentially be from all over? (I think amnesia was only common, not universal, so I presume that should we choose not to take it, character background applies)  (For that matter, while I’d assume having English is wise, this could make language skills handy?)
-   Should we bother with contacts?  (doing them is not an issue, and might help flesh the character out, but at the same time it could be more text to wade through if they’ll never enter into the game.

[Mercy Merchant]

I am just about finished with my initial character concept for this. 

A young girl of Japanese heritage whose parents are wheels in Renraku.  so she has all the advantages of being a corp rich kid.  Her parents are parazoologists who head the corporation's Special Creatures section.  They travel the world to find the strange and unusual and the experience has rubbed off on their daughter, who wants nothing more than to follow in their footsteps.  She has skills in living away from civilization and has picked up a fair number of languages.  Her face is badly scarred from an encounter with a large cat in the jungles of Southeast Asia.  The same attack ruined her eyes and she has received a set of cyber eyes to replace them.  Her other augmentations are reflex recorders for unarmed combat and blades.  She has been taught a form of unarmed combat that specializes in the use of improvised weapons of opportunity.  She is also skilled with bows and slingshots.  She has a natural empathy for animals and good animal handling skills.

Let me know if this rough outline is OK to proceed with.  When are we starting?

[Raiderjoseph]

When are we starting?

Aria is being PRETTY aloof about this. Stay Frosty Mercy.

[Mercy Merchant]

OK, I am assuming that we get nothing more than normal clothes and implants.  I have changed part of my character to hopefully make her more survivable.  I reduced the eyes to R1 and got rid of the reflex recorders and moved the resources choice to the bottom so only get 6K.  I will be trying to get the character up on the OP for approval.

Got the character started and will continue as I can.  If anyone sees anything glaringly off, please let me know.

[Aria]

Sorry folks, mad weekend, will try and get to your questions tomorrow!

[Raiderjoseph]

https://stormy-waters-2075.obsidianportal.com/characters/vincent-elmas

Here he is! Finished product!