Anybody interested in playing Shadowrun?

So now that everyone's back, and ready when can we look forward to starting this? If you couldn' tell I'm actually quite excited as everytime before that I made a background for a Shadow run game, I handed it in and the GM put it into a folder and it was never seen or heard from again.
 

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Shalimar said:
[...] the GM put it into a folder and it was never seen or heard from again.

Ain't going to happen! :)

Just now I'm going over the characters and backgrounds for the last time, checking for any open questions. If any arise, I will post them tomorrow, so we can get them out of the way.

After that I'm waiting for Reaper's statement/wishes for changes on the adjusted adept and his and Tory's background.

Our sixth player :D should have his PC ready on monday; finetuning him shouldn't take more than one or two days.

After this we should be ready for adventuring into the Sixth World!


Folkert
 

Wowie, a 6th, we are really filling out. Hmmm, Looks like we will probably havet he skills for a wider variety of runs then I initially thought.
 

adjusted adept questions:
I could have sworn I saw on your post once where you had listed the Ruthe-whatever Polymer suit (to make him Stealthier). Was I smoking something when I saw that? :p

1) Do you guys think that the Nerve Strike will be more effective than increased Stealth and Quickness?
2) Do you know why I had chosen Aptitude as an edge? I think I've seen other people with edges that increased an attribute by 2 - is there an edge that increases quickness by 2?
(my idea of him was a very hard to see (Stealth god) and lightning quick assassin.)
3) Is that all the cyberware I can get for 1 essence? :(
Is that stuff good to have?
4) Can I have some gas grenades? (I can do without the cutter bullets) What about the Holographic projector? It's the reason (as I remember) why I gave Inue Ventriloquism : I was thinking he would use the holographic projector to distract people, using Ventriloquism to throw his voice to make the illusion more effective, then attack with surprise when striking.

Those're the questions off the top of my head....
oh! and thanks so much for working it up, Shali, and editing it, Douane!
 

1) It's just a personal opinion, but nerve strike isn't as useful as stealth or quickness.

2) You can only raise an attribute by 1 with edges.

3) That’s pretty much it. The chosen eye options, and the smartlink are really useful.

4) Gas grenades avail is 8, so you can buy them; the cost is 60 each. I don't remember seeing a portable holoprojector anywhere.
 

I'll go through it in a point by point fashion from my perspective feel free to ignore Reap, Folkert.

1)Well, You could buy 4 points of stealth, or 2 point of quickness, or 2 stealth and 1 quickness with that point. You already have a combined stealth score of 9, more then good enough. The two points of quickness is up to you, but if you don't take nerve strike then that pressure points knowledge has no way to be expressed in game. Knowledge skills don't work like active skills, you wouldn't be able to do anything with it, so you would be, I wont say wasting, as your character might actually know it, but there is no benifit to having that knowledge skill.

2)Because apptitude is an edge, There is a hugely complex edges and flaws system thats not covered in the main game, but added in in a latter book. Each edge is worth a certain amount of points, and each flaw is worth a certain amount of points. You need to balance these out when working with the priority system as we are. For example, Aptitude is a 4 point edge, buying it as an edge, is the only way to get it.

There is an increase attribute edge, it is a 2 point merit, but it can at most be taken 1 time. So no, there is no way through edges to increase your quickness by 2.

3)Lol, isn't that enough? Your very lucky with what Folkert did.
All of this includes the reduction for getting alpha-ware
Cyber Eyes: .16
Smartlink 2: .4
Fingertip compartment: .08

leaving .36 for the Mono-whip, very, very cheap all things considered, retractable cyber-spurs are .24 essence, and they aren't 2 meters long.

(Before I forget, just a note, the skill for use with the whip would be cyber-implant combat/ mono-whip 5/7, not whips)

4)With the ventriloquism, unless you buy it as an active skill, it can't be used in that way, as is, its just for entertainment purpouses. The skills were divided into Active and knowledge for a reason, its the active skills that do the physical stuff, and the knowledge thats the brain stuff, its the background knowledge of what to do, what can be done, whats the best way to do it, but the active skill is what does the actual doing.

5)I don't know of there being any holo-projectors in shadow-run. The closest thing would be the Trid Phantasm spell which can only be cast by people with Sorcery, Though I think with what your after you mean more like an invisibility spell, and again, that can be done only with a spell.

What you are reffering to above is a Ruthenium Polymer modification to a suit(You'd still have to buy a suit). You couldn't afford it. Even if that was the only thing you spent money on (ALL of your 90k) you could barely afford a good one (One that would leave you concealed more then 3/4ths of the time), and that would leave you without anything else, only street lifestyle, no guns, no cyber, not really anything at all. Things cost a lot in shadow run, a heck of a lot, and 90k isn't much cash to start with at all. All that alpha-ware would have cost you at least 70k out of your 90k and that just presumes that the cyber whip cost exactly the purchase price of the mono-whip without any additional costs.

Just to see what you had left after buying everything, but before buying you a lifestyle I came up with 4,785 not enough to even buy a month of middle class. This isn't a criticism or anything, but you made out like a bandit so stop while your ahead. :D
 

a) Where exactly are the Edges & Flaws detailed? I borrowed some books, but can't find it. (and what does Aptitude do?)
b) I guess it's pretty straight-out that there's only 90,000 to spend? I shouldn't re-arrange the reources a different way?
I haven't reviewed the resources part yet.
(edit) I just checked - yeah, Attributes first, then Adept, leaving 90K. Sounds right. I guess I'm short on $ now because of the alphaware (before, the tip-of-the-finger monofilament wire was breezed over as an Essence non-issue, fortunately for me - I see how it impacts other areas quite a bit.)
c) I totally guessed with the Ventriloquism being a Knowledge skill.
It just seemed to fit better there, as it didn't seem very active, with the big cost (as I remember) of active skills.
d) The holographic projector is on page .... I haven't found it yet.
I'm pretty sure it was an expansion-type, equipment guide.
It detailed a retrieval line for the projector, a speaker system for sound and vision projection, and up to 7 stored "shows" that it could play back.
I thought it might come in handy on some runs, and could be fun.
e) I thought monofilament whip only cost .10 Essence for the fingertip compartment?
f) Why would I maybe have wanted Stealth to be SO high?
Is it overkill, or can the extra-high scores be used effectively?
g) What book is Nervestrike from, and what does it do?
h) Ruthenium Polymer is 10,000 per square meter. I don't know how much material it would take to cover a smallish man. +5,000 for an image projector.

TIA.
 
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Oh yeah!
I just remembered/found where I previously had put the Infrared, and an external transducer in a Security Helmet (pg 284), getting (I think) some extra protection, and cheaper cost, no Essence reduction, too.

Does that sound like a good idea?
Would that work? I could get all the stuff I'd want (thermo, mag, infrared, etc (pg 281 & 282)) relatively cheap (compared to cyberware?)

Also, to clarify:
A Smartgun can be used with the Smartgoogles feature of a Security Helmet, providing -1 to shots with that weapon.
The Smartlink raises that to -2, but with a hefty Essence cost, and pricetag.
Maybe instead of that, would Boosted Reflexes be good?
I can't find where it states what Level 1 Boosted Reflexes does, exactly....
 

Reaper,

here are the reasons for the changes I made: (Hope they make sense!)

0. Ruthenium Polymer:
I don't think that I ever included them, due to their prohibitive cost. (50,000 Nuyen for the lowest posssible level, out of the 90,000 you have.) Instead I have added the camouflage suit. While limited in scope ( different suits for different terrains/no office interior version available:D), is has nearly the same effect (+4 to be seen) and is much more affordable (1,200 NuYen)

1. I don't know about 'more effective', but I have to agree with Shalimar's opinion, that it would be very fitting considering your pressure points skill (which, as a knowledge skill, doesn't give any boni to active skillls). In regard to 2 extra stealth dice and +2 Quickness boost, well 9 dice are already very good - especially if combined with your natural apitude (see below) - and the boost works like, for the lack of a better idea, a ninja mantra: You'll have to activate it and it will stay active for 5 rounds at the best, so no use in surprise situations.

2. The only option would be to invest 4 points in the edges 'exceptional attr' and 'extra attr point', this would allow you to get your Quickness to 7. Given your concept, however, the aptitude which reduces every stealth target number by 1, seems to be far more suitable (and makes it much easier to rack up those needed extra successes) [well, at least to me :)].

3. Sorry, should have listed the essence costs. That's all you can get for your money. I opted to go for quality over quantity and therefore took the alpha grade of cybereware, which reduces the essence loss of the implants by 20%. Your momentary essence is 5,36, so you can still add something else later on.
Regarding the choice (Please beware, I might get slightly rantish!;)):
- Cybereyes: Speaks for itself, a whole slew of useful sight-based options, which you now don't have to buy as adept powers or to rely on equipment-based versions [BEWARE OLDTIMER RANT! :) ... and unfortunately much too common already, given the concentration on 'effective' cyberware. Come on people, where are the stylish choices in cyberware? :D]
- Smartlink II: Definetely essentila, if you use firearms a lot, since it gives a -2 target number with a linked weapon

Given my impression of the PC, I would have personally recommended some other cyberware options (I took the PC to be a kind of 'traditional-mythical' ninja, more like 'Remo Williams' than anything else. This is why I took the liberty of increasing his strength and unarmed combat skill.):
- Bone Lacing Plastic: +1 Body, higher unarmed combat damage (8M) and harder to break bones. Essence 0.5 (0.4 Alpha)
- Balance Augmenter: -2 target number on all checks involving balance. Essence 0.4 (Alpha 0.32)

4. Oops, the gas grenades got somehow lost. However, the standard gas grenade is only available with a filling of Stun gas.

Concerning the holo-projector I can honestly say, I've never heard of such a piece of equipment in SR. To my knowledge holograms are only used in very limited quality and quantity for entertainment purposes (and then only in stationary equipment).


Hope this helps!

Folkert
 
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Where exactly are the Edges & Flaws detailed? I borrowed some books, but can't find it. (and what does Aptitude do?)

Edges and flaws are detailed in the canon companion


b) I guess it's pretty straight-out that there's only 90,000 to spend? I shouldn't re-arrange the reources a different way?
I haven't reviewed the resources part yet.
(edit) I just checked - yeah, Attributes first, then Adept, leaving 90K. Sounds right. I guess I'm short on $ now because of the alphaware (before, the tip-of-the-finger monofilament wire was breezed over as an Essence non-issue, fortunately for me - I see how it impacts other areas quite a bit.)


Yes very staright out, the purpouse of the priority system is so that no one can have everything they want at character creation, its a balance thing.


c) I totally guessed with the Ventriloquism being a Knowledge skill.
It just seemed to fit better there, as it didn't seem very active, with the big cost (as I remember) of active skills.


Active skills are limited, you could buy it as an active skill, but then you lose out on something else. The game you were playing in before seems very very very highpowered, this game isn't that high powered. Shadow run is set up that characters just out of creation are mid-level characters(if you can actually aply a level description like d20) the game you guys played just from looking at the quality of your cyber was easily an epic level game.

d) The holographic projector is on page .... I haven't found it yet.
I'm pretty sure it was an expansion-type, equipment guide.
It detailed a retrieval line for the projector, a speaker system for sound and vision projection, and up to 7 stored "shows" that it could play back.
I thought it might come in handy on some runs, and could be fun.


You couldn't afford it the way it is, and you don't really need it. I think your thinking way too high tech. Each piece of equipment has an availibility rating. at character creation we are only allowed to buy up to availibility 8 that monowhip is availibility 24 so your lucky Folkert let you have it. You payed 9k for it instead of 3k becaues he made you pay what you would have to pay for it on the street.

e) I thought monofilament whip only cost .10 Essence for the fingertip compartment?

You got a way better deal then I thought. Cyber weapons cost a lot of essence, even when alpha'd they cost .24 for retractibles. That you got a 2 meter whip grafted to your body at no essence cost is a gift. A very big gift, that you should not under-estimate. blades that are only a few inches long cost .24 what should 2 meters cost? figure that out and know that you got away with that much.

f) Why would I maybe have wanted Stealth to be SO high?
Is it overkill, or can the extra-high scores be used effectively?


Your fine as is, with the stealth score like that your great, better then world-class, you are the definition of the skill. With a camo suit which Folkert added to your sheet your golden, it would take a monumentally bad roll on all 9 dice for you to get seen.

g) What book is Nervestrike from, and what does it do?

nerve strike is in Magic in the Shadows. Basically, when you employ it with unarmed combat you reduce their quickness, if you do it well enough which is quite possible for you with the way your skills are, you leave them paralyzed. I suggested it because you had knowledge skill pressure points. See my comments are Ventriloquism for reasons why having it so high with no way to express it is pointless unless as a character thing bearing in mind it wouldn't ever really be usable except in conversation.

h) Ruthenium Polymer is 10,000 per square meter. I don't know how much material it would take to cover a smallish man. +5,000 for an image projector.

See Folkert's answer
 

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