Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Looking for Games => Topic started by: Scarecrow71 on <07-02-12/2254:35>
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New runner here looking for a job. I'm rather green when it comes to the current set of conditions for most contracts, but I'm a quick learner and I'm able to adapt quickly. I don't have lots of time to devote to in-person contact, so I prefer to keep everything over vid-phone.
Ok, so now that I've gotten that out of the way...
Basically, I'm looking to join a PBP game so I can start learning the 4E ruleset and get familiarized with the forums here. I did scan through the PBP sub-forum, but to be honest it was a little difficult to read as the threads for all games appear to just be in one spot, and I couldn't find any threads indicating that the games were looking for new players.
So if anyone knows of a game here that is willing to accept and deal with someone who has never done 4E before (I cut my chops in the shadows on 1 and 2E, so I'm familiar with the system and the style of game-play), please let me know.
Thank you.
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Like Scarecrow, I am also looking to join one of the PBP games.
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I'm also looking to join in a PBP game.
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I'd be up for GMing a game. Gimme a a day or so to gather some notes together and I'll do a quick writeup on the campaign concept. I'm pretty flexible regarding suggestions for an overall 'theme', but I do like to have something set up ahead of time so that you guys can pick contacts/tweak backstories ect. to make the whole thing mesh better. Even broad strokes suggestions are good.
As far as general notes about my GMing style and some of my house rules go... well I'll list them and if you haven't run screaming for the hills lemme know.
One of the big ones is Core Book only for chargen. IME, especially with online games this levels the playing field and ensures that I have a fairly solid idea of what sort of 'stuff' people are going to have access too. It also allows for improvements in gear as the campaign progresses since a lot of the sourcebooks introduce pretty mundane gear that is simply better than what is available in the core book. If there is something you really want something from a supplement then let me know and we'll work something out. I might require that you spend a few BP's on a restricted gear quality or something like that, but we'll figure something out.
One notable exception to the above is that I do allow customized cyberlimbs from P44 of Augmentation. Otherwise cyberlimbs just aren't worth the cost.
Magic: In my 15+ years of playing Shadowrun I have never gotten good at GMing awakened PC's. I don't enjoy magic heavy runner teams, and I don't enjoy magic heavy adventures. I'm OK with a mage being on the team, but I would request that if you do make one, keep him simple. I do use awakened threats, but they are rare, and you'll typically have advance notice of them so you can prepare accordingly.
The Matrix: Only change here is that VR does require a hardwired connection from your brain to the matrix. AR hacking still works the same. Techno's can use VR like normal though. Techno's (especially core book techno's) need a bit of an edge IMO.
I also have some crazy habits regarding how I pay runners, particularly if there are mages in the group. I'll detail it more later
As a general rule you're better off as a generalist than hyper specialized. Couple of reasons for this. First it allows me to use a greater variety of challenges and be confident that you can still overcome them. Second, and this is particularly important in a PBP is that even if your skills overlap it lets everyone contribute to a given scene. Combat for example can take a very long time in a PBP game so if you're playing a hyper specialized social butterfly with a body of 2 you might spend 3 weeks of real time copy pasting "I find something to hide behind" any time that lead starts to fly. If on the other hand you're playing some troll who rolls 23 dice in "hitting things" and 3 dice in "thinking about things" you're likely going to find the parts of the game where you don't get to hit things pretty dull.
Third it lets me throw more reasonable threats in your direction that can be a challenge to the entire team rather than just challenging the one who's specialized against it and wiping the floor with everyone else. The classic example of this is the troll who rolls more dice for damage resistance than a banshee. Either I'm forced to throw mages hurling stun balls at him all the time or I'm arming security guards with Panthers. This ends up with the troll getting to have fun while everyone else gets one shotted.
Trolls with bows that do more damage than a rocket launcher make me sad.
I tend to be pretty forgiving with regards to a lot of the details surrounding not getting caught. You don't need to worry about outsmarting CSI unless you do something really high profile, public, or messy. Nearly every cop has a price. Even the corps tend to be pretty forgiving. Basically by the time you've completed the run the corp has lost 90% of its interest in you. They know the damage is done, and ultimately you're not responsible. They won't make it personal if you don't. Syndicates on the other hand can be a bit nastier. They don't have the resources to throw at you or track you down that a corp would, but they're far more concerned about their reputation and if you present an easy target to smack back at they will. Basically as long as you play with a reasonable degree of subtlety you don't need to worry about detailing how you're using bleach to clean your bloodstains off the ground or mapping out multiple routs to your safehouse unless you feel like it.
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PM sent to all in this thread.
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Cool, so we've got one in. As far as setting goes I tend to lean towards Seattle or Hong Kong, but that's more habit than anything. I've GMed both before and they tend to have similar shadowculture 'rules' which makes life easy. Tokyo's interesting and can be a ton of fun but it forces a very different team makeup than a lot of other towns, subtlety is the name of the game there and a lot of groups have a tough time with that. I'd also strongly discourage any kind of metahumans. Chicago's a fun one too but it's very difficult to sustain a campaign there just because the place is such a hell hole. LA is just bizarre... I don't even have a twitter account, so even conceptualizing P2.0 is way beyond me. New York would be an interesting possibility. I'd be making a lot of it up as I go since I don't have the Shadowrun Missions adventures that were set there but it would be cool to try out.
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I'm okay with everything you said, imperialus. Count me in. If I may, could I request a mission in Tokyo? I think that would a great challenge.
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Count me in as well. My preference is for Seattle, but Im sure I can adapt. Scarecrow was interested in the hacker role, and Kozak the face, so I'll be more of a combat-y character with jack of all trade skills. Anyone else interested in joining? :D
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I'd be interested in joining a PbP game. :D
As far as roles go, I'm comfortable with doing anything but Hacker/Techno. I've never been able to completely wrap my head around matrix stuff.
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Count me in as well. My preference is for Seattle, but Im sure I can adapt. Scarecrow was interested in the hacker role, and Kozak the face, so I'll be more of a combat-y character with jack of all trade skills. Anyone else interested in joining? :D
Actually, I'm leaning more towards the vehicular creator/fixer role as, like Ympulse, I just have issues with wrapping my brain around the matrix. I will go the hacker route if we really need one and nobody else is up for it, though, to make the team more rounded.
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If my count is correct, that's 4 prospective players, and 1 GM. I think that's enough for a playable party, though it may get dicey every now and then. But I think that's what makes it fun.
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I also have interest in the game, leaning towards the roles of street sam or mage with some social finesse.
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Cool. 5 players, that ought to be good.
I like Kozak's suggestion for Neo-Tokyo so unless there are howls of protest I might go with that. I'll spend the next couple days fleshing out a campaign while you guys work on characters and the like aim for getting things rolling next Thursday or Friday.
Couple of things to remember, I mentioned them already in my last post but they're probably worth repeating.
1) Metahumans are scarcely recognized as sentient. I mean it's only been like a decade or so since they stopped shipping meta's off to an island away from the normal people so it makes life tough as a metahuman. You can play one. In fact I'd welcome it, but it would make a lot of things more challenging.
2) Big bang bang's are not a good thing. In fact, (and I'm just making this up) locally the availability of every gun in the book is flat out raised by 4. Blades are the way to go. Pistols are OK, but SMG's Assault Rifles and anything heavier are very, very rare.
3) Social skills are hugely important. Your etiquette doesn't need to be maxed, but unless you have a reason for it everyone should have some capability to talk to other people.
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If there's room for one more I'd be game. Thinking a B&E specialist techie.
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Luckily, I had a B&E/Face type character that wasn't used for a previous game, although he does utilize some things out of Arsenal IIRC. Would you like for me to send the sheet in for review, Imperialus?
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sure thing, imperialus1 at gmail dot com
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If there's room for one more I'd be game.
Is there room for one more Imperialus?
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Sent you a PDF of the character from ympulse1 at gmail, let me know if anything needs to be changed.
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I will have my character finished tomorrow. Imperialus, would you like him PM'ed or emailed to you?
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If there's room for one more I'd be game.
Is there room for one more Imperialus?
I don't really want to go above 5. If anyone drops out though I'll PM you as an alternate.
Oh and Scarecrow, either PM or Email. Whichever works easier for you.
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Character Update:
The more I work on a rigger, the more I dislike him. Not sure why, but he wasn't going well. So I shifted my focus to him being a mechanic, and he started coming out as a smuggler. And the more I tweaked and re-worked, the more I liked the smuggler idea. So, that's the route I'm taking (I am going to go through him several times to make sure he's got the right stuff). I'll be sending him to imperialus tonight.
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If there's room for one more I'd be game.
Is there room for one more Imperialus?
I don't really want to go above 5. If anyone drops out though I'll PM you as an alternate.
Cool thanks.
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Character submitted.
And a question to the other players: We are (from what I've read) going to be starting in Neo-Tokyo. Is everyone going to be Japanese and have that as their native language? That's the route I went, but I'm just curious.
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Pending imperialus's approval, I planned on my character being a Japanese expatriate who's reluctantly returning to the homeland.
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I went the Bilingual route with my character, although he is a former 'company man', for a Japanese corp, he's new to Neo-Tokyo.
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My character is also bilingual, but a Japanese native.
Just can't wait to start this game! ;D
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Might be a couple days before it gets off the ground. My dad is in town from South America so we're busy touring him around the city. He leaves on Thursday though so I'll have a whole mess of free time after that.
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I was thinking of going the route of having a part-japanese heritage, his father being from the UCAS and mother from Japan. Of course, being a face, I'll probably be loading some linguasofts.
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So the characters coming in so far look good, and I'm liking the backgrounds that are starting to form. One thing I'd request is that you double check some of your gear to make sure it's from the SR4A book. One that popped out at me in a couple of them is the Securetech PPP that is actually from arsenal IIRC.
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I will definitely take a look at the gear my character has. You had stated that this would use the core books, so my first thought was ALL the core books - Arsenal, Augmentation, Unwired, etc., and I probably have some gear from one of those books. I'm at work now, but I'll take a look tonight at home and send an updated character sheet if necessary. :D
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And....revised character submitted.
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Perfect, so Scarecrow and Ympulse's characters are done and approved, just waiting on waiting on Operator to Kozak and Leigh Fox to get their characters done. I'll be ready to go come Thursday afternoon if everyone else is.
I'll also be running a significant chunk of it on Obsidian Portal. It gives a nice central location where we can keep a lot of stuff like character sheets and the like without them disappearing into the depths of a public PBP forum.
The link to the (right now very empty) Obsidian Portal page is here http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/tokyo-nights
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I've gone ahead and signed up at Obsidian Portal, using Scare_crow as my screen name. I can always change that to be my character's name (Aishuku Dokataki) if need be.
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I'll have my character sent by tonight. Sorry for taking so long, backgrounds always take me forever to come up with.
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It's a good thing we're waiting on people to submit their characters. With the number of revisions I've had to make due to my inability to comprehend some portions of the English language when reading the simplest of rules, I'm glad that I've had the time to be able to get this character legal!
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Character submitted, Imperialus. Hopefully, everything is okay. Also, how do I join the campaign on Obsidian portal?
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Imperialus needs to send you an invite on Obsidian Portal, after which you will be a formal part of the campaign.
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Ok, so I think I sent invites to everyone who favorited the campaign, so Kozak Ympulse and 'Keldion' you're all invited. I'm assuming Keldion is "Operator" on here since Leigh Fox hasn't posted for a while.
If I haven't heard from Leigh Fox by tomorrow I'll PM Yogi. If Leigh Fox does join in then we'll just run with 6, otherwise we'll have our first replacement.
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Ok, I created my character out there. And something odd I see - Operator was out there, but now he's gone?
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I decided to forego the character sheet layout and use text instead. You should be able to view it now.
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Same here, the pre-created sheet seems to have some issues with the format I usually use. Raw text it is.
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I tried using the pre-formatted sheet that exists, but it just didn't do it for me. So I also went with free text.
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Wow, a lot has happened in a few days. I'm tr5ying to recover from a difficult weekend, slowly catching up. I don't really have a role in mind for my character, more of a jack of all trades sort, though with a bit of leaning towards combat and smuggling. Will be an import from north america (probably seattle, since its so stereotypical) rather than an asian native.
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Ok, so I heard from Leigh Fox yesterday. I'll probably get the IC thread up later this evening. Get this show on the road. Something I'll set up for everyone is a wiki page for their character. Something you can use as a sort of digital scratch pad to keep track of what weapons you are carrying, the status of your PAN, wounds taken, common dice pools ect.
We'll use http://invisiblecastle.com/ (http://invisiblecastle.com/) for dice rolling. Hopefully everyone can figure it out, otherwise feel free to ask. Just put the rolls in the IC thread but wrap them in spoiler tags.
As far as font colors and the like goes lets just run with:
blue = "Speaking"
orange = <<Text Messaging or Email>>
Purple = "Comlink Conversations"
Brown = Thinking
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As far as IC goes...
Do you want us to create an account there so we can log in and track the campaign dice rolls? Without having an account, we can't put the campaign name in.
Also, do you want dice rolls posted in the IC thread, or is there somewhere else you want the rolls actually posted?
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Not unless you want to. I've already forced to guys to sign up for Obsidian Portal, I'm not going to make you sign up for IC too. Unless I perceive it as becoming an issue I tend not to monitor dice rolls. We're all big kids.
Put the rolls in the IC thread. Just wrap them in spoiler tags, like so:
[spoiler]1d6.hits(5)=1, 1d6.hits(5)=1, 1d6.hits(5)=1, 1d6.hits(5)=0, 1d6.hits(5)=0, 1d6.hits(5)=0, 1d6.hits(5)=0, 1d6.hits(5)=0, 1d6.hits(5)=0, 1d6.hits(5)=1, 1d6.hits(5)=0, 1d6.hits(5)=1 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3604718/)[/spoiler]
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As far as IC goes...
Do you want us to create an account there so we can log in and track the campaign dice rolls? Without having an account, we can't put the campaign name in.
Also, do you want dice rolls posted in the IC thread, or is there somewhere else you want the rolls actually posted?
I created an account there last week, b ut never recieved their activation email. kinda irritating.
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well, I'm excited and totally ready to go. Anyone else?
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I can't wait. I have been none sing for some hi-tech hijinks for quite some time!!!
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Should be good to go soonish. Kozak, one thing I was missing from your character summary was how many IP's you have. Looking at your gear, I think you've only got 1 IP but correct me if I'm wrong.
Also if you guys don't mind adding how many dice you roll for initiative to the short sheets. It'd help with combat since I'll likely roll initiative for everyone at the same time.
As a side note, I always try to link to songs on You-Tube that help set the scene... Over the past few days I've been listening to waaay too much J-Pop... Cursing myself for picking Tokyo as a setting.
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I hope you don't mind if I don't make use of the short sheet much, imperialus. I wrote everything down on paper. That said, I'll go ahead and add the initiative info and the passes on there.
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Short sheet updated.
Like LeighFox, Operator is shipping out from North America; the difference is that Op is an expatriate. The shadow life is never dull.
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Kozak is doing the same. SSDD, right?
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Is there any room for a rigger in this?
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Pretty positive that we're full for the moment, Shabourne. I would suggest dropping a PM to Imperialus to see if you can get an alternate slot.
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Thanks
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Yeah, sorry Shabourne, full for now. I can add you to the alternates though.
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Just as an FYI everyone can also add the following contacts for free:
Tinman: A veteran of the Imperial Marines, with a JIF tattoo on his neck Tinman went off the grid after his tour in California was up. He doesn't like to talk about what happened in Cal-Free but whatever it was, it must have been nasty given the fact that massive amounts of his body have been replaced with milspec cyber. He almost always has a bottle of liqour and he chain smokes. Even more unusual is his near constant companion, a young Gaijin Troll who calls himself "Elfin Face". Elfin Face got his moniker on account of the fact that the entire left side of his face is a mass of scar tissue. If asked about it, or if he catches anyone staring he'll simply say "Fragging Willie Pete should not be used to break up a fragging riot."
Tinman has a loyalty of 2 towards everyone and will serve as your initial fixer. You're not 100% sure, but you think he has some ties to both the metahuman community, and the Emperors faction within Japanese politics.
Shadowsea Neo-T: You're all also members of Shadowsea Neo-T. This is the matrix hub for a lot of Japan's Shadowrunners. Like Shadowsea it is a really mixed bag regarding membership everyone from hardcore Yakuza members to board corp kids who treat the VPN like 4Chan are present. It can be a great place to troll for information, or even look for work if you're getting desperate. Right now Shadowsea Neo-T has a Loyalty rating of 1 (you're relative unknowns) and a matrix connection rating of 12
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AAAAND IC is up.
Leigh Fox, feel free to join in, while you're still working on statting up your character. Not likely going to be a ton of dice rolling right off the bat.
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Character is done, aside from the problems I mentioned to you in the PMs.
For everyone else: Im using Chummer to create my character, and the problem Im running into is that after I set it to carreer mode and save it, the program eats about half of my characters KNowledge skills. I cant figure out why... I created the c haracter twice with that problem.. between the recreations I did a test run and basically created it an additional time and it DIDNT eat the skills. Im at a loss. If anyone has any idea why it does this, please please let me know. I feel like deleting it out of frustration. >.>
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LeighFox, I've had the same problem with Chummer and Knowledge skills. The part I find really odd is that it happens (normally) under one of the following 2 conditions:
1. You have a lot of specializations; OR
2. When you save the character you are on the Skills tab.
I actually reported this on Dumpshock, and I wasn't taken very seriously, so I'm not sure if anything is going to be done about it. I've also noticed that if you have the same skill with 2 different specializations (say Combat Tactics, one with Hostage Rescue and the other with Urban, for example), after you save the character in career mode it makes both specializations the same, and it does so in alphabetical order. I've tried opening up the XML file and altering it there manually, but for some reason it just does this.
What I've done is filled out the knowledge skills (so I know how many points have been spent), and then I write down (using word or notepad) the skills and their ratings. Then when I move the character to career mode, I copy and paste into the notes so I know what I've got.
I recommend creating an account at Dumpshock and reporting this in the Chummer thread so they know it isn't just one person having this problem.