UPDATES:
5/24/2015 - As of right now, there is 1 spot open for a new player on the next run. Please PM me if you are interested. If you are reading this message, it means the spot has not been filled yet. Any character type is welcome, although the character creation process has been modified for this campaign. If you are interested in playing with us, please be prepared to play a low-powered, low-tech game in a world about 70 years before the current Shadowrun storyline.
The world is changing, chummer. And in a big way. You feel it, right? Like an insect, always buzzing over your shoulder.
Awakening Apocalypse is a play by post Shadowrun campaign, using the 5th edition core rules. No other sourcebooks will be used for this campaign.
The following players are confirmed for this game:
Rubberneck
Shayuri
TillForPie
Glasseye
Recruitment is currently closed. I will update this thread if/when this changes. Sorry, chummer!
Please refer to this discussion while creating your characters, as there are some restrictions and special considerations for this campaign. Which brings us to the following-
The Setting
The Shadowrun universe looked a lot like the real world, until history began to diverge around 1980. Awakening Apocalpyse occurs at the most critical point in Shadowrun history. It is about 45-50 years earlier than the typical Shadowrun setting, and as such, some of the tech in the core rules will not be available (or at least, not in the same form as it is in the sourcebook).
The year is 2011. Viral-induced toxic allergy syndrome, VITAS, is determined to kill everyone, and it's doing a damned fine job of it. When we finish counting the bodies, we will realize that more than 10% of the world are dead.
Another disease called unexplained genetic expression, UGE, has claimed about 15% of the children born in 2011. Children so afflicted are born either short, stocky, and stunted, or unnaturally slender, with misshapen ears. A few people have been born genetically abnormal in this way since 1980, but nothing remotely on the scale we have seen this year. Although these children are technically healthy, they are sure to be met with great hostility as they grow up. Some people are calling these children "dwarfs" and "elves" due to their resemblance to the fantasy creatures.
A strong Native American independence movement, NAIM, got started a few years ago. For the most part, this was an organized and peaceful movement, which may have actually been successful in time. However, radicals seized the initiative within NAIM, culminating in a terrorist attack on a US government nuclear launch site in 2009. The attackers managed to hack the facility's computer system and launch a single missile at an unknown Russian target, before government forces killed or captured all of the attackers. The missile vanished before striking its target. The official government explanation is that the missile was never actually launched, but we all know better. Government response to the NAIM attack was to forcibly relocate all NAIM-affiliated persons into internment camps, the largest of which is in Abeline, TX. Ironically, this internment has minimized native Americans' exposure to VITAS, and they are now the only population mostly unaffected by the disease.
A new way of accessing the internet has been invented, and is exploding in popularity. The internet is starting to be referred to as The Matrix now, as people use augmented-reality (AR) and occasionally even virtual reality (VR) to simulate an actual, physical interaction with their digital data. Older people grumble about how kids spend more time linked in to The Matrix now than in the real world, but just about everyone realizes this is the way of the future. And the future is freakin' cool!
Corporate entities enjoy larger freedoms than ever before, but also have more risk and responsibility. Within their spheres of influence, the largest corps have nearly completely assumed the role of government. The actual United States government isn't overjoyed by this, but it's hard to argue against the cost savings and efficiency this arrangement brings. Technology is booming like never before, mostly because of this corporate privelege. Of course, all it would take is a couple of high-profile public scandals to bring the whole corporate house of cards crashing down, and all of that freedom corporations have enjoyed becomes a thing of the past. For this reason, corps play nice with each other. In public, at least. In the shadows, it's a dog-eat-dog world, where corporate players hire mercenaries to ruthlessly punish their competitors. These Shadowrunners aren't on anyone's payroll. They don't have a 401k or health insurance. They never had to pass a Human Resources compatibility test. They don't exist at all, officially. The corporations realize just how dangerous these Shadowrunners are, because all it takes is a bigger offer from a competitor for a corp to see its own asset turned against it. If you want to know why a Shadowrunner died mysteriously, the first person you should investigate isn't his most recent target...it's his most recent employer.
It ain't easy, livin' in the shadows. But it sure is exciting, right? That's why you're here, innit. You ain't a wage-slave, a monkey in a suit, makin' some other fella rich with your work. No, not you. That's what it means to run the shadows, chum. Freedom. You'll likely die, broke and regretful. But the journey there... That's how men are meant to live.
Creating Your Character
The only sourcebook we will use for this campaign is the 5th edition core rules, which will be modified a bit to work better with pbp, and to better reflect the lower-tech setting we'll be playing in. The following rules will restrict your characters for this campaign:
1) Any Magic rating you receive during character creation will be granted over the course of the first few missions. Your Magic rating will be effectively 0 at the start of the campaign, but will reach it's normal potential through in-character roleplay.
2) No character may be created with a Resonance rating, as Technomancers will not exist for quite a long time.
3) All gear including cyberware and bioware are restricted to availability 4 or less. Specific exceptions may be made on a case by case basis.
4) Use the "street level play" rules for character generation (see page 64).
5) Orks and trolls do not yet exist in this campaign. If you choose to play as an ork or troll metatype, your character will undergo goblinization at some point during the campaign.
6) Mystic adepts will have their power sharply reduced (magicians, adepts, and aspected magicians will be created as normal), as follows
-Mystic adepts are only available if Magic is priority A or B at character creation
-Instead of their normal rewards for priority A, mystic adepts receive the following: Magic 4, two rating 4 magic skills, 6 spells. For priority B, mystic adepts receive: Magic 2, 1 rating 4 magic skill, 3 spells.
-Mystic adepts must purchase powers at a cost of Karma x4 per power point during character creation (regular adepts will receive powers for free, as normal)
These house rules are meant to balance the very high power ceiling mystic adepts enjoy, and are not meant to "punish" people for choosing to play as a mystic adept.
Anyone with a magic rating should strongly consider taking the mentor spirit quality. This will greatly reduce the time and effort it will take your character to unlock his/her magical potential!
All characters will have a contact named "Aleksander," who is their contract fixer. His connection rating is 4. Alexsander is an online handle (not a real name) for a fixer who is either Greek or impersonating a Greek. Aleksander will contact your character from time to time to offer Runner jobs. Refuse these jobs at your own risk, as Aleksander has proven to be quite well connected and he has yet to lead you wrong. It is unlikely that any of you have met Aleksander face to face, as he(she?) is a very private and cautious person, and will under no circumstances meet face to face with anyone lower than loyalty 6 (and even then, only if there's just no other option). Players must "purchase" Aleksander as a contact as described in the character creation rules. If your character does not have enough points to purchase Aleksander as a contact, then he/she spends all available points, and obtains Aleksander as a contact at Loyalty 1. Anyone who chooses to have loyalty 6 with Aleksander, please contact me via PM. Depending on the specific circumstances, I may require that player reduce their loyalty with Aleksander to a number lower than 6.
Feel free to discuss your character ideas in this thread, however try to avoid talking about the specific values of your skills and attributes. These numbers should only be available to the GM and the character's player. If everyone is ready by next weekend, the first in-character game post will be one week from today, Sunday 2/22/15.
If anyone does not have access to the 5th edition rules, please contact me via PM.
There's only one great truth in the world, chummer. The more everything changes, the more everything stays the same.
5/24/2015 - As of right now, there is 1 spot open for a new player on the next run. Please PM me if you are interested. If you are reading this message, it means the spot has not been filled yet. Any character type is welcome, although the character creation process has been modified for this campaign. If you are interested in playing with us, please be prepared to play a low-powered, low-tech game in a world about 70 years before the current Shadowrun storyline.
The world is changing, chummer. And in a big way. You feel it, right? Like an insect, always buzzing over your shoulder.
Awakening Apocalypse is a play by post Shadowrun campaign, using the 5th edition core rules. No other sourcebooks will be used for this campaign.
The following players are confirmed for this game:
Rubberneck
Shayuri
TillForPie
Glasseye
Recruitment is currently closed. I will update this thread if/when this changes. Sorry, chummer!
Please refer to this discussion while creating your characters, as there are some restrictions and special considerations for this campaign. Which brings us to the following-
The Setting
The Shadowrun universe looked a lot like the real world, until history began to diverge around 1980. Awakening Apocalpyse occurs at the most critical point in Shadowrun history. It is about 45-50 years earlier than the typical Shadowrun setting, and as such, some of the tech in the core rules will not be available (or at least, not in the same form as it is in the sourcebook).
The year is 2011. Viral-induced toxic allergy syndrome, VITAS, is determined to kill everyone, and it's doing a damned fine job of it. When we finish counting the bodies, we will realize that more than 10% of the world are dead.
Another disease called unexplained genetic expression, UGE, has claimed about 15% of the children born in 2011. Children so afflicted are born either short, stocky, and stunted, or unnaturally slender, with misshapen ears. A few people have been born genetically abnormal in this way since 1980, but nothing remotely on the scale we have seen this year. Although these children are technically healthy, they are sure to be met with great hostility as they grow up. Some people are calling these children "dwarfs" and "elves" due to their resemblance to the fantasy creatures.
A strong Native American independence movement, NAIM, got started a few years ago. For the most part, this was an organized and peaceful movement, which may have actually been successful in time. However, radicals seized the initiative within NAIM, culminating in a terrorist attack on a US government nuclear launch site in 2009. The attackers managed to hack the facility's computer system and launch a single missile at an unknown Russian target, before government forces killed or captured all of the attackers. The missile vanished before striking its target. The official government explanation is that the missile was never actually launched, but we all know better. Government response to the NAIM attack was to forcibly relocate all NAIM-affiliated persons into internment camps, the largest of which is in Abeline, TX. Ironically, this internment has minimized native Americans' exposure to VITAS, and they are now the only population mostly unaffected by the disease.
A new way of accessing the internet has been invented, and is exploding in popularity. The internet is starting to be referred to as The Matrix now, as people use augmented-reality (AR) and occasionally even virtual reality (VR) to simulate an actual, physical interaction with their digital data. Older people grumble about how kids spend more time linked in to The Matrix now than in the real world, but just about everyone realizes this is the way of the future. And the future is freakin' cool!
Corporate entities enjoy larger freedoms than ever before, but also have more risk and responsibility. Within their spheres of influence, the largest corps have nearly completely assumed the role of government. The actual United States government isn't overjoyed by this, but it's hard to argue against the cost savings and efficiency this arrangement brings. Technology is booming like never before, mostly because of this corporate privelege. Of course, all it would take is a couple of high-profile public scandals to bring the whole corporate house of cards crashing down, and all of that freedom corporations have enjoyed becomes a thing of the past. For this reason, corps play nice with each other. In public, at least. In the shadows, it's a dog-eat-dog world, where corporate players hire mercenaries to ruthlessly punish their competitors. These Shadowrunners aren't on anyone's payroll. They don't have a 401k or health insurance. They never had to pass a Human Resources compatibility test. They don't exist at all, officially. The corporations realize just how dangerous these Shadowrunners are, because all it takes is a bigger offer from a competitor for a corp to see its own asset turned against it. If you want to know why a Shadowrunner died mysteriously, the first person you should investigate isn't his most recent target...it's his most recent employer.
It ain't easy, livin' in the shadows. But it sure is exciting, right? That's why you're here, innit. You ain't a wage-slave, a monkey in a suit, makin' some other fella rich with your work. No, not you. That's what it means to run the shadows, chum. Freedom. You'll likely die, broke and regretful. But the journey there... That's how men are meant to live.
Creating Your Character
The only sourcebook we will use for this campaign is the 5th edition core rules, which will be modified a bit to work better with pbp, and to better reflect the lower-tech setting we'll be playing in. The following rules will restrict your characters for this campaign:
1) Any Magic rating you receive during character creation will be granted over the course of the first few missions. Your Magic rating will be effectively 0 at the start of the campaign, but will reach it's normal potential through in-character roleplay.
2) No character may be created with a Resonance rating, as Technomancers will not exist for quite a long time.
3) All gear including cyberware and bioware are restricted to availability 4 or less. Specific exceptions may be made on a case by case basis.
4) Use the "street level play" rules for character generation (see page 64).
5) Orks and trolls do not yet exist in this campaign. If you choose to play as an ork or troll metatype, your character will undergo goblinization at some point during the campaign.
6) Mystic adepts will have their power sharply reduced (magicians, adepts, and aspected magicians will be created as normal), as follows
-Mystic adepts are only available if Magic is priority A or B at character creation
-Instead of their normal rewards for priority A, mystic adepts receive the following: Magic 4, two rating 4 magic skills, 6 spells. For priority B, mystic adepts receive: Magic 2, 1 rating 4 magic skill, 3 spells.
-Mystic adepts must purchase powers at a cost of Karma x4 per power point during character creation (regular adepts will receive powers for free, as normal)
These house rules are meant to balance the very high power ceiling mystic adepts enjoy, and are not meant to "punish" people for choosing to play as a mystic adept.
Anyone with a magic rating should strongly consider taking the mentor spirit quality. This will greatly reduce the time and effort it will take your character to unlock his/her magical potential!
All characters will have a contact named "Aleksander," who is their contract fixer. His connection rating is 4. Alexsander is an online handle (not a real name) for a fixer who is either Greek or impersonating a Greek. Aleksander will contact your character from time to time to offer Runner jobs. Refuse these jobs at your own risk, as Aleksander has proven to be quite well connected and he has yet to lead you wrong. It is unlikely that any of you have met Aleksander face to face, as he(she?) is a very private and cautious person, and will under no circumstances meet face to face with anyone lower than loyalty 6 (and even then, only if there's just no other option). Players must "purchase" Aleksander as a contact as described in the character creation rules. If your character does not have enough points to purchase Aleksander as a contact, then he/she spends all available points, and obtains Aleksander as a contact at Loyalty 1. Anyone who chooses to have loyalty 6 with Aleksander, please contact me via PM. Depending on the specific circumstances, I may require that player reduce their loyalty with Aleksander to a number lower than 6.
Feel free to discuss your character ideas in this thread, however try to avoid talking about the specific values of your skills and attributes. These numbers should only be available to the GM and the character's player. If everyone is ready by next weekend, the first in-character game post will be one week from today, Sunday 2/22/15.
If anyone does not have access to the 5th edition rules, please contact me via PM.
There's only one great truth in the world, chummer. The more everything changes, the more everything stays the same.
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