[Poindexter]

So far it seems like the group is leaning toward Chicago with RnB playing Baby Hardcore at some point in his life and emotional development, Zwei rocking a technomancer, possibly a sibling of BH, maybe one who took a different path in life, and Tec playing some kind of Awakened, which will be a bitch in Chicago, but hey, here we are. I'd like to find a way to link Tec's character with the other two. Ex-spouse, former romantic rival, illegitimate child, estranged step-uncle, something good. Ideas?

I plan on starting things kinda simple. One or two smaller runs to get the group up to speed on the locale, each other, and any NPCs that will be playing important roles. After things get settled, we'll start to get into the meat of the story, cool?

[Tecumseh]

I voted for Chicago, especially the Containment Zone, because I think feral cities are fascinating. I think it would fit well with Baby Hardcore's neo-anarchist leanings, but that's up to rednblack to decide.

I'm leaning toward a female dwarf at the moment, partly because I realized I haven't played a dwarf in 15 years. I imagine her being a cold-eyed realist/pragmatist who has had it up to HERE with BH's idealism. I'm open to suggestions for possible relations with BH and Zweiblumen's PC. Being an ork or a troll isn't off the table either.

I'm hoping to take the Home Ground quality and have that broadly apply to the base background count of the Containment Zone, if that's where we will be. I know the quality as written is more limited in geographic scope. I'm all for the more wicked parts of the CZ being higher on the background count scale. If Poindexter wants the whole thing to be a pit of misery and despair impervious to Home Ground then I'll adjust things accordingly.

For power level, I think I'm going to build someone who is optimized to survive in the CZ, but not necessarily optimized to play Shadowrun. The spells (and powers, if I go mystic adept) will be more about day-to-day survival rather than being a combat goddess. She'll have some summoning too but will do so sparingly because spirits get pissy (via the Spirit Index) when they get summoned into background counts. For example, she would summon to accomplish a specific task but not to leave the spirit on watch all night.

[Poindexter]

I'm hoping to take the Home Ground quality and have that broadly apply to the base background count of the Containment Zone, if that's where we will be. I know the quality as written is more limited in geographic scope. I'm all for the more wicked parts of the CZ being higher on the background count scale. If Poindexter wants the whole thing to be a pit of misery and despair impervious to Home Ground then I'll adjust things accordingly.

I think somewhere between 'broadly applying home ground to the base background count of the entire CZ' and 'making the whole thing a pit of misery' is where my dart would land. I'd be open to expanding on the RAW as far as the geographic scope of it, just probably not THAT much.

Not to mention, the CZ aint the only place with background count in chi-town. It's just where the worst of it is.

Also, You'll probably be making some jaunts INTO the CZ from time to time, but I don't think that's where the 'home base' will be, y'know? I mean, unless that's what YALL are really feelin, in which case, why not, right?

[rednblack]

I'm leaning toward a female dwarf at the moment, partly because I realized I haven't played a dwarf in 15 years. I imagine her being a cold-eyed realist/pragmatist who has had it up to HERE with BH's idealism. I'm open to suggestions for possible relations with BH and Zweiblumen's PC. Being an ork or a troll isn't off the table either.

Yes, please.

For power level, I think I'm going to build someone who is optimized to survive in the CZ, but not necessarily optimized to play Shadowrun. The spells (and powers, if I go mystic adept) will be more about day-to-day survival rather than being a combat goddess. She'll have some summoning too but will do so sparingly because spirits get pissy (via the Spirit Index) when they get summoned into background counts. For example, she would summon to accomplish a specific task but not to leave the spirit on watch all night.

I'm still debating on power level.  It really kinda depends on the loud vs. stealthy thing.  I'm tempted to go with shotguns for flavor and fun, but I'm worried that could leave us only with sprawl/cz/ganger level jobs, unless I diversify pretty heavily.  In general, I really like the stealthy chars though, so I'm pretty much just typing "out loud" here.  One thing to keep in mind about BH is how young he is, like seventeen or so, which should make for some interesting tie-ins. 

@Zwei, have you given any thought to what kind of techno you want to play? 

[Poindexter]

I'm still debating on power level.  It really kinda depends on the loud vs. stealthy thing. 

I kinda go for a mix of both.

I really enjoyed how this...
https://youtu.be/V41fLweroZc
eventually devolved into this...
https://youtu.be/Z3kBWP231hI

[Zweiblumen]

I'm leaning toward a female dwarf at the moment, partly because I realized I haven't played a dwarf in 15 years. I imagine her being a cold-eyed realist/pragmatist who has had it up to HERE with BH's idealism. I'm open to suggestions for possible relations with BH and Zweiblumen's PC. Being an ork or a troll isn't off the table either.

Yes, please.

I'm playing on a theme that I created the TM for Tec's IRC game.  With Chrome Flesh out now there's a lot of ideas that I had for the character that are more codified in crunch.  That char grew up in a research facility then escaped and was wanted by the parent mega.  I'm leaning more towards a trans-human prototype that escaped/was rescued from the facility at a VERY early age and grew up on the street and then got "adopted" by the family that raised BH.  He ends up being just as much of an activist, but is geared towards meta-human (and technomancer) rights.  Tec's concept of the "realist" would fit nicely with the two activists.

For power level, I think I'm going to build someone who is optimized to survive in the CZ, but not necessarily optimized to play Shadowrun. The spells (and powers, if I go mystic adept) will be more about day-to-day survival rather than being a combat goddess. She'll have some summoning too but will do so sparingly because spirits get pissy (via the Spirit Index) when they get summoned into background counts. For example, she would summon to accomplish a specific task but not to leave the spirit on watch all night.

I'm still debating on power level.  It really kinda depends on the loud vs. stealthy thing.  I'm tempted to go with shotguns for flavor and fun, but I'm worried that could leave us only with sprawl/cz/ganger level jobs, unless I diversify pretty heavily.  In general, I really like the stealthy chars though, so I'm pretty much just typing "out loud" here.  One thing to keep in mind about BH is how young he is, like seventeen or so, which should make for some interesting tie-ins. 

@Zwei, have you given any thought to what kind of techno you want to play?

I tend towards the stealthy type chars as well.  Doc is loud for my taste.  That said, flavor wins imho.  You can go in quiet, just not come out so quietly   Or diversify just a little?  Dunno :/

As for power level, using the Transhuman Prototype qual is expensive, as is Techno... So, I'm trying it with a Prime Runner build.  If this is OP, no worries, I will happily re-build not using the TP qual.  Wish I could fit playing a non-human in here, but I need ¥¥ and Attribs and Res and skills... Gotta cut something.  Would be fun to play as an Ork I think... maybe I'll just take the Poser trait... though he's so physically small I don't think that'd work.   I too an pretty much just typing "out loud" here.

[Tecumseh]

Zweilblumen, were you going to keep Bianco as a dwarf and/or albino? If yes to the dwarf, then that could be one of the common threads between your character and mine.

My working name is "Eisa". It means "glowing embers" in Old Norse. She's going to be Norse tradition, leaning toward fire and ice spells.

Bianco was only 17/18 years old. Is that staying the same too? Sounds like rednblack is leaning toward BH being the same age. Do we want to skew younger / more street? Not so much in terms of power level, but more from a characterization perspective.

It sounds like Poindexter is fine with whatever power level, especially since the opposition isn't going to be optimized for us anyway. If some things are naturally going to be way too strong for us and we just need to know when to run then I'm guessing our power level is less important than our characters and their personalities.

[Zweiblumen]

The only thing from Bianco (WR) that I'm really keeping is the test-tube baby theme and the otaku-to-technomancer.  With Chrome Flesh providing for the transhuman prototype quality, I'm running with that.  But between that and the fact that OtT requires (in missions at least) a data jack there's essence loss right there, that means spending (relatively) lots and lots of ¥¥.  And with res/attrib/skills all needing to be C or greater, that doesn't leave any room for meta-type

Just looked at switching out attrib for meta-type and that just crushed my build

[Zweiblumen]

Made Free was born in a research facility.  Born and facility are probably to polite for accuracy.  He was created in a lab.  A literal test-tube baby.  But they were able to create a special kind of human.  He had -ware, or the equivalent there of, built in.  As an infant he understood how use an automatic firearm and had better memory with quicker thoughts.  And sleep, he needed almost none of it.  All of this was to his advantage when the site he was at was discovered a little decade ago.
[spoiler]More details about being an otaku here.  Need to work on the timeline still.  Dunno if I want to do that before or after leaving the lab.[/spoiler]
MF was living on the streets, scavenging from the dumpsters and occasionally finding an opportunity to steal what he could to get by.  It was a typical shitty day when the couple found him.  Two ladies, an elf and a troll, found him hiding from the weather.  He was half starved and a quarter feral at this point.  His connection to the Matrix the only thing keeping him even partly sane.  They were kind, and got him some food.  Then they found him some clean clothes and offered him a place to stay.  Some place safe.  Trust was hard, but slowly they earned it.  There was another boy there, a little younger, but he had a similar story.  That made it easier to stay.  After some time, they became something of a family.
[spoiler]More details here.  Need to read up on BH's background so I can pull from that.  Dunno the whole background, but I think this is vague enough to fit into just about anything he's got.  Can get more specific about how/why they found/took him in once I know more about them.[/spoiler]
They told him that he couldn't make it.  He was too small, too slow.  But he felt he needed to prove them wrong.  He ran for the doorway at the last second and almost made it!  Well, most of him did.  Everything except for his arm from just above the elbow down.  That got left on the other side of the wall.  It happened so fast it didn't even hurt at first, then he looked down at where his arm used to be and fainted.  He woke up to Baby carrying him back home, he'd lost too much blood to even walk.  He passed out again before they got back.  Where they got the money from, or the favors for it, Made Free will never know, but he got a shiny new arm.  A cybernetic one.  It didn't jive that well with the Resonance, but he was able to make it work.  Just felt like a soft spot that wasn't quite him when he looked at it.  After time though, he got used to that.  That and the data jack from before he emerged, when he was still Otaku.  After the crash most of them died, he was one of the lucky few.  And now he was testing that luck with stupid stunts like taking a dare.  He'd have to figure out what kind of favors Mom and Dad pulled to get him this and make it right.  It was the least he could do after all they've done for him.
[spoiler]Reasonably happy with this part.  This would be mid to late teens, and how he got into the shadows.  Around here is where he'd start getting into Meta Rights also.  Still need to write that part.[/spoiler]
Normally I put much more finished stuff up but I wanted to get early drafts here for feed back from the three of you.  Thought's?  Especially from RnB as I'm really stealing a lot from his storyline here.

[Tecumseh]

Yeah, rednblack, let us know if you have an updated take on BH. What I know is from last January. Are you writing fiction for him?

If BH were in Chicago, would be be living in the Containment Zone (anarchist's delight) or outside of it? One would think that Made Free might be outside, if only because the Noise inside would drive him nuts, but maybe he figures that the CZ is safer given the people searching for him (i.e. his Wanted quality).

[Zweiblumen]

MF took the allergy NQ instead of the wanted NQ.  While I think the wanted NQ could be better for story reasons, I don't know how active it would be in a PbP.  I figured a common allergy would play a bit more.  Though I've done the wanted bit on two other chars so can easily write that into the story.  Or he could be wanted and just not have the NQ

[Poindexter]

Guess I need to get me a copy of Chrome Flesh and do some reading...

[Tecumseh]

Season 5 of Missions takes place in Chicago. There are some prep files available for free, including a list of Chicago contacts which are pretty great. I'm pretty sure I'm going to use a couple of the contacts myself. You can download it free from DriveThruRPG: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/119272/Shadowrun-Missions-Season-5-Prep-Files

I'm also going to include the Season 5 description. Who knows if Poindexter is planning on using any of this or not but I figure it helps as background information. For example, I'm thinking that my character was a Containment Zone survivor (maybe even born there) who moved out once the wall came down. Still not quite sure how she ties into Baby Hardcore and Made Free yet.

     "This Season follows up the status quo as laid out in Feral Cities and the electoral results set up in Dirty Tricks. Illinois Governor Anthony Presbitiro won his re-election bid on the campaign of rebuilding Chicago, and he helped newcomer Allan Brown get elected as the new mayor of Chicago on the same platform. The two have initiated an aggressive campaign called Project: Takeback (“Healing Chicago and making it safer you and your family!”) to repair and rebuild the shattered city.
     The first part of this is revoking the Adverse Possession ruling of the Chicago Supreme Court (see p. 32, Feral Cities) that granted ownership of property to anyone who lived on a piece of land continuously for an extended period of time without the rightful owner stepping forward to claim it. As of June 1, 2075, Adverse Possession was thrown out, and the residents of the former Containment Zone and areas of the Corridor no longer have any legal rights to property they may have been living on for as long as twenty years. Needless to say, this has angered many of those living in these areas of the city.
     The second part is offering up a one year “reclamation period” where anyone who can prove that they had a legal claim to a piece of land prior to the Containment Zone going up or have since purchased rights to that property will be given ownership immediately. After one year, any remaining property will be auctioned off to any interested parties for immediate ownership.
     There are two catches to this, however. The first is that any entities normally exempt from local land taxes due to extraterritoriality will have to pay taxes for the first five years to pay for rebuilding critical infrastructures in the area. The second is that all parties taking ownership of land have until June 1, 2077 to physically take possession, clear the land, rebuild, and start using it, or else the city will declare eminent domain and seize the property back for resale.
     Many corporations both new and old are moving in to take advantage of Project: Takeback, and you can bet the residents of the Zone aren’t going to take this lying down. Everyone’s looking to hire runners, whether it’s to destroy evidence left behind before the CZ went up, reclaim lost data and tech, prove ownership of property, stop someone else from claiming the land, or simply throw a monkey wrench in the entire process. Either way, there’s a lot of money to be made, and it’s a good time to be a runner in Chicago!
Just keep in mind that Chicago was termed a Feral City for a reason. Ghouls, bugs, magical voids, toxic zones, gangs organized crime, and the government combine to make the Windy City a mess, and the sprawl made Aethernet’s Five Most Dangerous Cities list the last ten years running for a damned good reason.
     Watch your back. Shoot straight. Conserve ammo. And never, ever deal with a dragon."

[Poindexter]

Most helpful, sir. I'll be using the crap outta that. I'll probably be adding my own sorta thing to it, if no one minds, eh? I'm not gonna get too weird with it or nothin, but I probably won't keep it cannon.

Cool?

[Tecumseh]

I can't remember enough about Chicago to know what's canon and what isn't, so knock yourself out.

I took a wrong turn in Chummer somewhere and it ate a lot of my calculations for Eisa. Here's what I currently have, which is pretty close to par (I need about 6 karma in negative qualities) with the exception of needing knowledge skills and contacts. I did Sum to 11, mostly to move from Skills D to Skills C. Put a different way, it's the same as Sum to 10 with about 50 extra karma in skills. She's not super-optimized by design. She has low skill pools in Athletics and Close Combat that I hope never to use but it seems unrealistic that she would have gotten this far without learning something about them. Her armor and some of her spells are for fluff reasons too, but are subject to change.

I wouldn't mind some more qualities but I'm not sure how strict we're being about the 25 karma cap. There are some other spells that would be fun fluff-wise but I didn't want to break the Spellcasting * 2 limit without asking first. She shies away from Sustained spells because they don't work that well in background counts. Similarly, she's never bothered with foci.

How important are SINs or fake SINs going to be? I'm still thinking of her as the product of a feral city, but if we're going to be mixing with society then I'll work one in.

== Info ==
Name: Eisa           
Dwarf                             
Movement: 6/12
Composure: 10
Judge Intentions: 8

== Priorities ==
Metatype: C(2) - Dwarf
Attributes: B(3) - 20 Attributes
Special: A(4) - Magician
Skills: C(2) - 28 Skills/2 Skill Groups
Resources: E(0) - 6,000¥
Bonus Skill: Spellcasting
Bonus Skill: Summoning

== Attributes ==
BOD: 3                            CHA: 3
AGI: 3                            INT: 5
REA: 3                            LOG: 5
STR: 3                            WIL: 7
EDG: 2                            MAG: 6

== Derived Attributes ==
Essence: 6                       
Initiative:           8 + 1d6
Astral Init:          10 + 2d6
Physical Damage Track: 10         
Stun Damage Track: 12             
Physical: 4                       
Mental: 8                         
Social: 7                         
Astral: 8

== Active Skills ==
Assensing (Aura Reading)          Base: 5  + Karma: 0  = 5   Pool: 10 (12)
Blades                            Base: 1  + Karma: 0  = 1   Pool: 4
Clubs                             Base: 1  + Karma: 0  = 1   Pool: 4
Etiquette (Street)                Base: 1  + Karma: 0  = 1   Pool: 4 (6)
First Aid                         Base: 2  + Karma: 0  = 2   Pool: 7
Gymnastics                        Base: 2  + Karma: 0  = 2   Pool: 5
Negotiation (Bargaining)          Base: 1  + Karma: 0  = 1   Pool: 6 (8)
Perception (Hearing)              Base: 4  + Karma: 0  = 4   Pool: 9 (11)
Running                           Base: 2  + Karma: 0  = 2   Pool: 5
Sneaking (Urban)                  Base: 4  + Karma: 0  = 4   Pool: 7 (9)
Spellcasting (Combat)             Base: 6  + Karma: 0  = 6   Pool: 12 (14)
Summoning (Guardian Spirit)       Base: 6  + Karma: 0  = 6   Pool: 12 (14)
Survival (Urban)                  Base: 1  + Karma: 0  = 1   Pool: 8 (10)
Swimming                          Base: 2  + Karma: 0  = 2   Pool: 5
Unarmed Combat                    Base: 1  + Karma: 0  = 1   Pool: 4

== Knowledge Skills ==

== Qualities ==
Addiction (Mild) (stims)
Did You Just Call Me Dumb?
Emotional Attachment
Home Ground (CZ)
Magician
Mentor Spirit (Dragonslayer)
Rad-Tolerant
Resistance to Pathogens/Toxins
Thermographic Vision
Witness My Hate

== Spells ==
(Tradition: NorseWIL + LOG (12)
Bug Zapper                 DV: F+1
Clean [Element] (Air)      DV: F-3
Fix                        DV: F
Heal                       DV: F-4
Ice Sheet                  DV: F
Ignite                     DV: F-1
Influence                  DV: F-1
Levitate                   DV: F-2
Lightning Bolt             DV: F-3
Manabolt                   DV: F-3
Napalm                     DV: F
Stabilize                  DV: F-4

== Armor ==
Evo Hel Suit                        8
   +Chemical Protection 2
   +Custom Fit
   +Fire Resistance 2
   +Insulation 4
   +Nonconductivity 4
   +Radiation Shielding 3
   +Gas Mask
Helmet                              2
   +Trodes

== Weapons ==
Combat Knife
   Pool: 4        Accuracy: 6     DV: 5P       AP: -3    RC: 2

== Commlink ==
Renraku Sensei (ATT: 0, SLZ: 0, DP: 3, FWL: 3)

== Gear ==
Contacts Rating 2
   +Image Link
   +Flare Compensation
Cram x5
Earbuds Rating 3
   +Audio Enhancement Rating 3
Jazz x5
Medkit Rating 3
Miniwelder
Monocle Rating 4
   +Vision Enhancement Rating 3
   +Vision Magnification
Novacoke x5
Psyche x2
Slap Patch, Stim Patch Rating 6 x2
Slap Patch, Trauma Patch