Shadowrun
Shadowrun Missions Living Campaign => Living Campaign Discussion => Topic started by: KraakenDazs on <02-24-16/0651:42>
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i have an on-and-off again gaming group that is interesting in doing a trial run of Shadowrun missions. A few of us are old Shadowrun fans from earlier editions (my 1st ed Core rulebook is sitting a few feet away from me...ahhh the good old (clunky) days of filling up your decker's last shreds of essence with hundreds of MEGABYTES of memory..) ,and most are brand new, but we're all noobs to the Living Campaign/missions style plays. Hoping some of you can answer a few questions.
-I've seen a list of missions-eligible modules in the latest FAQ, but im wondering how many of them can actually be applied to season 5-8 of missions. For example, i believe Sprawl Wilds and Firing Line are earlier releases, and not set necessarily in Chicago. Can we still apply all of them after playing through them to our characters, should we want to bring them to a con play, or are some reserved for earlier seasons /prime-runners/other reasons only?
-Can someone explain to me in layman terms the character record calendar? Is there a deadline to how many days weeks you can "Use up" before you run out or is it more of a bookkeeping aid without any real limits?
-Are convention play missions exclusive to particular conventions? For example, if we are starting missions now, and end up lucky enough to find some convention plays in Montreal where we live, would we have the opportunity to play through those older, convention only, modules? Or missed cons modules are missed forever-opportunities?
-Anyone knows if Montreal, Canada has any con events lined up/is there a calendar/registry somewhere?
Thank you all!
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-I've seen a list of missions-eligible modules in the latest FAQ, but im wondering how many of them can actually be applied to season 5-8 of missions. For example, i believe Sprawl Wilds and Firing Line are earlier releases, and not set necessarily in Chicago. Can we still apply all of them after playing through them to our characters, should we want to bring them to a con play, or are some reserved for earlier seasons /prime-runners/other reasons only?
Everything in the current FAQ list is legal for the current SEASON (I use the singular season to refer to seasons 5-8), however, not everything has been published yet. You are correct that things like Firing Line are not in Chicago, that is fine (You will actually find quite a few that aren't in Chicago), if you or the GM can come up with logical reasons for the team to be traveling, that works great. In missions play at cons you frequently find yourself somewhere else with little explanation (That is a reality of only having 4 hours to run a module at a con, something you don't have to abide by at a home game.) You will also notice that a couple of the released module books come duel stated for 4th and 5th, don't worry, if they are on the list they are still legal, just use the 5th edition stats.
One of the few "regulated" missions on that list is Killing Pawn, it is meant for prime level play, which ideally means 150+ karma per character. However as the FAQ points out, playing it DOES NOT remove you from regular play, just means you can wear your big boy pants when you need to.
The only thing that arbitrarily removes a character from Con/missions play (Besides character death) is having rewards from non-missions legal modules, either ones you create yourself, or published ones that are not on the list.
-Can someone explain to me in layman terms the character record calendar? Is there a deadline to how many days weeks you can "Use up" before you run out or is it more of a bookkeeping aid without any real limits?
It is a bookkeeping aid, mostly for knowing when you have to pay another month of lifestyle. However I find it useful for keeping track of training times as well.
It is not a dead line, when you run out of one, just print out another year. (My main character is on year 3 now)
Here is a thread with a Calendar example, it's my example and only an example, use yours however it works for you.
http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=21126.msg379834#msg379834
Hopefully this is what you wanted to know about calendars, if you have more questions feel free to follow up.
-Are convention play missions exclusive to particular conventions? For example, if we are starting missions now, and end up lucky enough to find some convention plays in Montreal where we live, would we have the opportunity to play through those older, convention only, modules? Or missed cons modules are missed forever-opportunities?
Play at whatever con's you find, that is the real point behind a living campaign. Every GM is supposed to run their table just like every other GM so players will experience consistency at every table they play at. The reality is that you will find some GM's that do things a little different than others, but they all want to make sure you have fun.
Unfortunately, no matter how big the con and no matter how many GM's are there, you may not find the mission your looking for, we simply have too many modules for us to run them all every time. But if you keep your eyes open, especially at smaller cons, you may find what your looking for. And cons may not be your only option, Many GM's run missions periodically at their local gaming stores and if they are a Catalyst Demo GM, they will likely have access to most if not all of the unpublished modules and you may be able to put in a request for something your looking for (I try to be good about that at the store I run at)
And in case it's not clear elsewhere, you do not have to be a Catalyst GM to run missions or give out reward sheets.
-Anyone knows if Montreal, Canada has any con events lined up/is there a calendar/registry somewhere?
The site is currently down, but when it comes back up this will hopefully help you find events in your neck of the woods, as for Cons, I would have to do some digging to find an answer for you.
http://www.catalystdemos.com/
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Thank you! That's exactly the answers i was looking for. A few more did come up speaking with friends, however, most of those answered by the fact but if you don't mind me asking more noob questions i'll post them as they come up.
What's the Missions stance on MysAds and Metamagics? Can they take magician ones as well as adepts or do they need the Magician's way? i was unable to find that info in the current FAQ version
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Since the site is down you can go to the Facebook page Shadowrun Missions. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/SRMissions/?fref=ts This is your best bet to find events near you for now. If you do run your own games be sure to record of the mission logs for every mission ran. Most missions should be ran by catalyst game labs agents. I don't know if it is acceptable or not so I would contact sinthalix on here as he is the event coordinator for SR missions. He can answer these questions a bit better as well as it might be in your interst to become an agent as well as because he is always looking for more agents.
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Games run at conventions by Catalist Demo Team Agents are pretty much 'official' games, however there's nothing to say you can't run them at home with friends, indeed this is a large part of what "Pushing the Envelope" is for. Official games are required to adhere completely to any special Missions rulings, home games however they're more like guidelines for easy balancing.
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He can answer these questions a bit better as well as it might be in your interst to become an agent as well as because he is always looking for more agents.
Well, i can't say i wouldn't be curious/interested to sign up for that in the future, altough for once i might have a GM willing to run a few Missions games and i was planning to enjoy being the player for a while, as i more often than not end up with the blessed/cursed Datajack-of-GMship, buuuut i am curious as to the specifics.
A few more questions are coming up as i consider different builds, wondering if any of you can give me an answer that would apply, generally, to official table-play, as i'd love to bring in my char to one if i ever get the occasion. And while i am an admitted munchk.. optimised character enthusiast, i try to put a lot of effort into RP and helping others players shine to make up for it,and i try to avoid cheese territory whenever i can. Being told "No" for the sake of balance is a totally legitimate thing, buuut within those reasonable limits, i like to make the maths work for me :P
-Fencing Gear: I get that it has to go through contacts (which makes me slightly sad as im planning on building a MysAd Face, but i'm unsure on what is considered illegal gear vs legal gear. Im clear on F and no rating-items, BUT, what about R rated equipment that we could potentially loot, like guns, used cyber, or anything of the like or even stolen, non-illegal but still "hot" commlinks or the like? (If we even bother, that seems like the surest way to get HTR teams on our case. Not worth the fistful of nuyens in most cases, but still). Do we simply fence at 10%, or if we have a suitable fake SIN (or real one) and proper licenses can we pawn them at 30%?
-High availability gear. Is it legit for a face to help out other runners get high availability stuff, or can i only realistically do it for myself, as long as i log in on my mission calendar or do they have to go through?
-(And the earlier question:) Can MysAds take both Magician and Adept MetaMagics, or would i need the Magician's Way?
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There's an entire thread dedicated to that last question... with no clear answer.
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He can answer these questions a bit better as well as it might be in your interst to become an agent as well as because he is always looking for more agents.
Well, i can't say i wouldn't be curious/interested to sign up for that in the future, altough for once i might have a GM willing to run a few Missions games and i was planning to enjoy being the player for a while, as i more often than not end up with the blessed/cursed Datajack-of-GMship, buuuut i am curious as to the specifics.
A few more questions are coming up as i consider different builds, wondering if any of you can give me an answer that would apply, generally, to official table-play, as i'd love to bring in my char to one if i ever get the occasion. And while i am an admitted munchk.. optimised character enthusiast, i try to put a lot of effort into RP and helping others players shine to make up for it,and i try to avoid cheese territory whenever i can. Being told "No" for the sake of balance is a totally legitimate thing, buuut within those reasonable limits, i like to make the maths work for me :P
-Fencing Gear: I get that it has to go through contacts (which makes me slightly sad as im planning on building a MysAd Face, but i'm unsure on what is considered illegal gear vs legal gear. Im clear on F and no rating-items, BUT, what about R rated equipment that we could potentially loot, like guns, used cyber, or anything of the like or even stolen, non-illegal but still "hot" commlinks or the like? (If we even bother, that seems like the surest way to get HTR teams on our case. Not worth the fistful of nuyens in most cases, but still). Do we simply fence at 10%, or if we have a suitable fake SIN (or real one) and proper licenses can we pawn them at 30%?
-High availability gear. Is it legit for a face to help out other runners get high availability stuff, or can i only realistically do it for myself, as long as i log in on my mission calendar or do they have to go through?
-(And the earlier question:) Can MysAds take both Magician and Adept MetaMagics, or would i need the Magician's Way?
Optimization: My suggestion to this is to make sure you don't make anything too outside the box but also avoid the 'one trick pony'. This doesn't sound like it will be a problem for you however, so I am going to stop here on that.
Looting: Most missions are ran in time blocks and do not give players time to really loot. There are actual in game reasons NOT to loot to though. Everything from your gun to your commlink is probably electronic. This means the device will need to be hacked both software and hardware wise to be viable for use by the player. However, these devices can be traced by the owners, manufacturers, or even the megacorp that issued it. So you may want to grab that commlink of the exec you just extracted but can you risk them tracking you and your extractee? Best to just leave it. Looting cyber/bioware is a morally questionable thing but also you would need the correct skills and knowledge skills to properly remove it. It also isn't as simple as grab and pull so it is going to take time. Do you really want to still be sitting there when the FRT shows up and sees you wrist deep in one of their security guy's body? These are questions you have to ask when you are thinking about going back to loot a body. The hacking is also why getting a good deal for hot items because the people buying it from you are taking all the risk in flipping it.
Face: In Missions Faces are awesome they help you get paid more or access to more gear when negotiating the job. Check the latest FAQ it actually addresses a social bonus you would get from having street cred. All these things can help you and your friends to increase there trade ins or trade ups. These are usually handled as downtime actions though so instead of dice rolls you buy hits (4 dice = 1 hit). So yes, as a face you can help your friends in acquiring high availability gear.
The last question I have no answer on as previously stated it is an ongoing discussion.
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Thank you! That's exactly the answers i was looking for. A few more did come up speaking with friends, however, most of those answered by the fact but if you don't mind me asking more noob questions i'll post them as they come up.
What's the Missions stance on MysAds and Metamagics? Can they take magician ones as well as adepts or do they need the Magician's way? i was unable to find that info in the current FAQ version
yes, it's actually pretty straight forward unless you are over thinking and trying to make it more complicated then it needs to be ... Mystic Adepts count as both mages and adepts so when they initiate they can choose from either
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A few more questions, if i may be of some bother once again. Thanks to everyone for reading and answering these!
1- Ally Spirits (or spirits in general) , can they overcast? And if so, do spirits sleep (For sustaining purposes.) Im trying to build a face-shinto caster and i really want a sustained F12 charisma spell, but the idea of getting an F12-14 Ally spirit instead of an F7 just feels... disgustingly strong. (And game breaking. -7 to my ennemies perception, sure, -14, ehhh... okay.)
2- Biocompatibility, how is it applied to Missions? I mean, the rules are clearly written, but as per rules, any .1 or .2 deltaware costing implants are basically essence-free, and again, this sound like abuse. ( Then again, it's all limited in some way by Nuyens availible so there IS a cap, but that also means that for 26 k i can cover my head in free-essence noise-reducing datajacks and still claim perfect essence. :P )
3-Do focis have an individual max rating? Or as long as you can beat the availability, pay the price in karma and nuyen, you can get F12-14 legit focis?
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2- Biocompatibility, how is it applied to Missions? I mean, the rules are clearly written, but as per rules, any .1 or .2 deltaware costing implants are basically essence-free, and again, this sound like abuse. ( Then again, it's all limited in some way by Nuyens availible so there IS a cap, but that also means that for 26 k i can cover my head in free-essence noise-reducing datajacks and still claim perfect essence. :P )
Q2: Biocopatibility works on a x0.1 discount on the essence cost. So for example Standard 'ware becomes x0.9 Essence, while Alphaware becomes x0.7 Essence.
In a vague answer to foci, remember that if the total power of active foci are higher tan your Magic rating you start running the risk of addiction.
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Yeah i'll definitely be at (low) risk of foci addiction, but i'll have a dice pool of "Not-toooo-worried"
But as a Face-Speaker's way buff-intended char, high-availibility gear shouldn't be too much of a worry, so i'm actually considering investing in some F12-13 focus down the line to offset most situations where background would shut them down. I know i'll only be able to bind one or two before i cap the Magx5 rating, buuut i think it can be worth it.
I might learn the Glue spell and glue them on me JUST so i can make sure i can't get those focis pickpocketted :P .
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Yeah i'll definitely be at (low) risk of foci addiction, but i'll have a dice pool of "Not-toooo-worried"
But as a Face-Speaker's way buff-intended char, high-availibility gear shouldn't be too much of a worry, so i'm actually considering investing in some F12-13 focus down the line to offset most situations where background would shut them down. I know i'll only be able to bind one or two before i cap the Magx5 rating, buuut i think it can be worth it.
I might learn the Glue spell and glue them on me JUST so i can make sure i can't get those focis pickpocketted :P .
Just be careful..
Type: Focus Addiction. Addiction Rating: Total Force of all active foci. Addiction Threshold: 2.
If you start using 10+ Force in Foci you're into singe-use addiction territory... and I could see GMs raising the threshold for such extreme levels.
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Yeah maybe i'm feeling a bit "safe" with the treshold being two, but for insanely strong foci...i wouldn't fault a GM for making me sweat a bit and upping the ante. It feels legitimate, in any case ;)
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Thank you! That's exactly the answers i was looking for. A few more did come up speaking with friends, however, most of those answered by the fact but if you don't mind me asking more noob questions i'll post them as they come up.
What's the Missions stance on MysAds and Metamagics? Can they take magician ones as well as adepts or do they need the Magician's way? i was unable to find that info in the current FAQ version
yes, it's actually pretty straight forward unless you are over thinking and trying to make it more complicated then it needs to be ... Mystic Adepts count as both mages and adepts so when they initiate they can choose from either
Is this your opinion on mysads or official clarification from above. While CRB would be in line with what you stated, SG has a little thing called Magician's Way which kinda says mysads can take magician's metamagics with this quality- implying very heavily that you can't otherwise. And generally speaking a specific rule trumps a general rule. Not much reason to take Magician's Way if all mysads can take any metamagic they want.
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Thank you! That's exactly the answers i was looking for. A few more did come up speaking with friends, however, most of those answered by the fact but if you don't mind me asking more noob questions i'll post them as they come up.
What's the Missions stance on MysAds and Metamagics? Can they take magician ones as well as adepts or do they need the Magician's way? i was unable to find that info in the current FAQ version
yes, it's actually pretty straight forward unless you are over thinking and trying to make it more complicated then it needs to be ... Mystic Adepts count as both mages and adepts so when they initiate they can choose from either
Is this your opinion on mysads or official clarification from above. While CRB would be in line with what you stated, SG has a little thing called Magician's Way which kinda says mysads can take magician's metamagics with this quality- implying very heavily that you can't otherwise. And generally speaking a specific rule trumps a general rule. Not much reason to take Magician's Way if all mysads can take any metamagic they want.
Well, first off, to argue that final point you made, the way still gives access to the Magician's Way exclusive enhancements and still gives a discount on whatever powers you want. So I would hardly say there is "not much reason" to take the Magician's Way...
Based on the available text, it cannot be logically proven that Only Mystic Adepts following the Magician's Way have access to "non-adept" metamagics. Take this logical progression:
1. "mystic adepts following this Way have access to all non-adept metamagics abilities for which they meet the prerequisites"
2. Mystic Adept "Meta" is following the Magician's Way
3. "Meta" has access to all non-adept metamagics (etc)
This statement passes basic logic. If A then B, A is True, so B is True. However, the contrapositive is not proven based purely on this text. Trying to use this statement to do so is the logical fallacy of denying the antecedent.
1. "mystic adepts following this Way have access to all non-adept metamagics abilities for which they meet the prerequisites"
2. Mystic Adept "Max" does not follow the Magician's Way
3. "Max" does not have access to non-adept metamagics (etc)
This second example is false, it isn't positively proven. If A then B, if A is False, B is not automatically false.
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Thank you! That's exactly the answers i was looking for. A few more did come up speaking with friends, however, most of those answered by the fact but if you don't mind me asking more noob questions i'll post them as they come up.
What's the Missions stance on MysAds and Metamagics? Can they take magician ones as well as adepts or do they need the Magician's way? i was unable to find that info in the current FAQ version
yes, it's actually pretty straight forward unless you are over thinking and trying to make it more complicated then it needs to be ... Mystic Adepts count as both mages and adepts so when they initiate they can choose from either
Is this your opinion on mysads or official clarification from above. While CRB would be in line with what you stated, SG has a little thing called Magician's Way which kinda says mysads can take magician's metamagics with this quality- implying very heavily that you can't otherwise. And generally speaking a specific rule trumps a general rule. Not much reason to take Magician's Way if all mysads can take any metamagic they want.
my response is official as it relates to Missions play at least, but without direct input from the Author regarding the Magicians Way we assume it is not meant to be so confusing and merely a way for mystic adepts to "create" thier own specialization of an adept power package
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At the same time, the Street Grimoire says that you can initiate ''into'' an higher art school through initiation, which THEN gives you a free metamagic. What's to stop adepts from initiating into an High art, which is never prohibited anywhere, and THEN receiving the free meta, as an after-effect? :P
Yeah it's a huge debate already,and i wasn't asking house ruling or Shadowrun-official errata but what people's general Mission concensus was, which i believe Banshee answered.
I would however, gladly argue with you on the same topic on the Rules board :D