Back in Business [Shadowrun 4E] (Inactive)

Game Master CloakedInSmoke

A friend gave me some Shadowrun 4E rulebooks and I was wondering if anyone would be interested in playing in a campaign. I'd prefer to play (having never played Shadowrun before) but would be willing to GM if everyone else was fine with a noob GMing. (I have GMed some real life Pathfinder campaigns, though).

For the uninitiated, Shadowrun is a cyberpunk/fantasy hybrid RPG, taking place about 60 years from now from in an alternate history. (Confusing, I know, but it starts an alternate history in 1999 and then extrapolates it out to 2070). In this setting, megacorporations run the world, the internet has evolved into the Matrix (an omnipresent wireless network with alternate reality as well as virtual reality), magic has returned the world, bringing with it the mutation of a percentage of the population into elves, dwarves, orks, and trolls, and America has been torn beyond recognition: Canada and the US merged, the Southern states seceded, and the Western states are now run by Native Americans and in one case elves. (California remained its own state).

Unfortunately none of it is covered by the OGL so you'll have to get ahold of the books yourselves.

I own all the books! And I wouldn't mind trying to play either some type of mage, or a hacker/rigger. Currently playing in an RL SR4e campaign, playing an elven gun bunny. Game is awesome...We just finished assassinating the Local CFO of Aztechnology in the city...Though he was already dead by the time we got there, due to another runner group...But after we took them out by exploding the building with us inside(no idea how we survived the first explosion, much less the explosion due to our rigger still having her own bomb still on her when the first one went off...)...We managed to escape. xD

Would be interested, but I am involved in a lot of PbP games at the moment.

Have the source material, and would definitely like not having to GM.

In fact, there's an ongoing campaign I've kinda flaked out running on these boards. I'd be happy to pass you the reins if you so desired.

Interested and have a character made as well. A physical adapt. I was playing in psionichamster's game as well....

Dot, dot, dot

Would be interested in playing either a mage or a gun wielding physad.

I was also in psionichamptsers game....

I've really wanted to try Shadowrun for a long time. I'm a complete newbie in the system but it seems simpler than Pathfinder in some respects.

Smoke, if you get the game up and running, I will see if I can rearrange some things in my schedule to take over as GM at some point so you can play. I will need to review the rules again. I have core book and the Runner's Companion.

Alright, it looks like there's enough interest that I think we can get this started! I don't have any published SR adventures so I'll get working on a homebrew. :)

If anyone interested could put together a few paragraphs of fluff (character concepts, background, and so on) for their character(s), that'd be great :)

And Bilbo, that'd be awesome :)

choices...choices...choices :)

I found a decent char generator here : Characher generator

Here is my character, Rick. I hope he is ok. He is a physical adapt.
This is Daniel Stewart.

Ah yes, Chummer. The Most Awesome Character Gen for Shadowrun. Alright. I'll need to browse a little and decide on what to build. A hacker, or a mage(And what type of mage).

Rick seems fine crunchwise. Could you elaborate more about his motives and personality, though? Feel free to PM me if you don't want the other 'runners knowing. And just for completeness, what kind of commlink is Rick running? SR4 p. 319 has a list of 'links for sale, starting at 100¥. Also, just wondering, why does a man with history in the military and organized crime only carry a nonlethal weapon? Wouldn't he get a fake SIN and license to carry a lethal gun?

Morrin, it sounds like many of those interested want to run magic types, so it looks like a hacker might be more valuable to the team at this point. Unless you guys wanted an "all magic" kind of shadowrunning team. :)

Alright, a hacker it is. Time to Neo this stuff up...*Begins reading up on hackers, only played a Street sam Gunslinger before*

Can I get in on this? I have a thing for combat adepts.

EDIT: Looks like adepts are a common choice. I've only played one game once, but made 2 adepts. I guess I could make something else...

I think I'll go for a covert ops kinda sneaky person :)

So just to recap we have the following people interested in these characters:

• Morrin: hacker/rigger
  
• Daniel Stewart/Rick: physical adept
  
• Misterlurch: mage
  
• Ptolmaeus: undecided
  
• D-Kal:undecided (leaning toward combat adept)
  
• Spazmodeus: covert ops
  
• Bilbo Bang-Bang: relief GM

If there are more interested then I would probably split you guys into two teams of runners, but as it stands I'll run a group of 6 if everyone still wants in.

For metatypes I'm going to say Core Rulebook only, just to simplify it for myself having never played or run things (not having to worry about metavariants, Infected, AIs, or free spirits) You can still choose qualities/gear/spells/etc. from other books. We'll go standard 400 BP for character building. I have the following books:

• Core Rulebook
  
• Runner's Companion
  
• Street Magic
  
• Arsenal
  
• Augmentation

If you use something from another book, please spoiler the full stat block/relevant text on your "character sheet."

Unfortunately they don't have Chummer for Mac :P Maybe I can fire up 7 year old Dell laptop and see if it will run it. In the meantime I found a good form-fillable SR4 character sheet PDF though this website.

Instead of a homebrew, what do you all think about playing Shadowrun Mission 04-00 "Back in Business", which is only $4 (well within my price range lol) and would make it a lot easier on me since I'm still learning the ropes. It has good reviews on DriveThruRPG but if you guys have already played it or don't want to play a canned scenario, then I'll find another one/brew one myself. :)

I am very excited and pleased that you offered to GM this Cloaked.

I will have a character up later today.

i also have not played back in business yet, and i would be fine starting with a pre-made.

Only played in a homebrew campaign, still in that is. Will take me a bit to get a character up. Building a hacker, which no idea how to build one, so gotta re-read all the books to figure out how to make a effective one. :) Unlike a gun bunny character where all you need is guns agility guns dodge guns armor guns other useful skills to flesh out a character then more guns.

Yeah I could never figure out the matrix or astral stuff. I found all of it very confusing.

I dont know anything about the matrix. I do not have the knowledge for magic.
But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my guns go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.

Weapons specialist here

How much gear did you buy, SC? (Like nuyen/BP costs) Also, just so you know, you may want to consider a higher lifestyle or higher Security lifestyle rating (Advanced Lifestyle rules, Runner's Companion, pp. 149-69) if you're going to be storing 20 kilos of explosives in your house. Also keep in mind that with a Low lifestyle you are in a crappy apartment, meaning you will have to carry any gear into/out of your flat through public walkways. Neighbors will likely leave you alone if you leave them alone, but tens of thousands of nuyen worth of restricted/forbidden equipment behind a maglock it might only take a 1200¥ sequencer to bypass may prove too much of a temptation for any of your less trustworthy neighbors.

At 7 players interested, I'm considering running two groups (same campaign, but separate threads and separate teams).

or you could do them in the same setting, possibly interacting if paths cross, potential competition, potential collaboration, Great potential!

Also, are you allowing any of the suggested house rules? Such as any free contacts, or chr times 2 in contacts points?

Since I'm pretty dang n00b, lemme know if something on this guy doesn't jive.
Introducing Mr. Zelbourne, legendary assassin.

Well, seeing how I'm a complete noob (having only the books) I am not aware of any houserules. I did just look up CHR x2 contact points through our friend Mr. Google and that seems reasonable, but any contact with a Loyalty of more than 3 needs some backstory about how you met and why you're such good friends. :)

Perhaps in the future, once I'm more comfortable with the system, I'll have some team on team interaction, but for now I'll keep you guys pretty well separate, especially since you'll be running the same campaign. Maybe once this adventure's over I'll send you guys on separate (but related) runs and some collaboration will be possible.

D-Kal, Zelbourne seems cool statwise. What's his story, though?

I'll throw in a background spoiler in a bit.
So, we get to add CHR x2 contact points, free? I'll update that too then, if that's the case.

Till I am ready totake the reigns to Gm I could play the part of Johnson...Maybe PM me the jobs and I'll play the part?

Yes you get CHA x 2 free BP to buy contacts.

Bilbo do you want to play a character? I don't really see how we can split in the middle of a canned adventure and it would get cumbersome to have to wait for us to relay back and forth. (I've done enough PbP to know that it wouldn't work- there's so much delay even without a second GM). At the end of the run we could switch. :)

Smoke, did you check out my background?

Also, I noticed we are faceless atm. I have a mage/face I mostly made if someone wants him, or if you want me to play him.

Cloaked.... are there any limits on equipment availability? Or if we can afford it we can get it?

As per core rulebook, nothing with an availability higher than 12, and no more than 50 BP spent on gear.

I'll take a look at your background later tonight. :)

Background seems fine :) You and SC have put in some nice little hooks I could work into subplots... muhaha...

Summarized character creation requirements in the Discussion thread. If you have a character ready, feel free to head on over to the Discussion thread and do a little roleplaying while we wait for everyone to submit characters and for me to choose our teams :) We did this for a Rise of the Runelords campaign PbP and it was immensely fun to just have a RP bull session while the GM sifted through applications.

I also have this guy, no name or background. Someone else can steal him & be our face, if necessary. Just a rough draft. Could use a once-over.

The only issue I noticed with the Face was that his fake SIN had ratings too high. Fake SINs have an Availability of Rating x 4, and Availability is limited to 12 by creation rules, so the highest you can start with is a Rating 3. He also needs his 14 BP worth of free contacts. Otherwise seems fine.

Anyone want D-Kal's Face?

...

LOL.

Here's

Finished all this while being exhausted after work. Hope I got everything correct. Let me know if any changes are needed or wanted. :) And will make Alias if chosen!

i had made this character a while back on a defunct shadowrun game, and was keeping it low key.

I was planning to do a couple tweaks here and there.

besides, as a demo expert, i think crusha would know how to mold the explosives to look like groceries :)

I'm a RL friend of Morrin's I should be able to gin up a char this weekend and get it posted for one of the teams (would like to be partnered with Morrin though).

Face also needs to spend that last bit of starting cash, and it looks like he's missing some modifiers & quick reference info for things like his spells & smartgun system. He also has like 12 kno skills to fill in, & background & such.
Like I said, not quite finished.

I've got this Dwarf illusion mage from a DOA game several months ago. Check out the profile.

Alright, I'm closing recruitment at 9 pm PST tonight, so any lurkers who are interested should speak up now. Anyone who has already said they were interested has until Sunday December 2nd at 9 pm PST to post their character, and I'll make my decision and hopefully get the first post of the campaign going sometime on Monday.

Please roll starting money and an Edge Test (as a tiebreaker if I can't make up my mind) in the Discussion Thread once you have a character :)

2nd Recap of those interested:

Players with Characters Submitted

• Daniel Stewart as "Rick" (physical adept)
  
• DEW MOU"TAIN as "Skullcrusha" (demolitions expert)
  
• D-Kal as "Crix Zelbourne" (combat adept)
  
• Morrin as "John Hicks" (hacker)
  
• RainyDayNinja as "Gh0st" (magician)

  Players Interested
  

• MisterLurch
  
• Spazmodeus (covert ops)
  
• Ptolmaeus
  
• fnord (Morrin's friend)
  
• Bilbo Bang-Bang

Cloaked, I ninja'd you with my submission. I've got the backstory in the profile.

The highest fake SIN you can have is Rating 3, because its availability is Rating x 4. The Availability cap is 12 for character creation. Other than that, seemed good, Gh0st :)

Fake Sin is Rating x3, actually. At least in the PDF I have.

Yeah, I just double-checked that. It is x3.

My book says x4. It says fake licenses are x3, but fake SIN says x4. Maybe mine is an old printing? 2005? (I don't have the anniversary edition).

I have 20th anniversary core.

OK then Rating x 3 is fine :)

If you're willing to give me an extension, i'm putting together a gunner/sneak. Looks like its one area missing from the line up.

I only got a couple hours sleep last night and I am crashing, if you need to make your decision on the completed characters, that's cool.

My concept is female elf, focusing on guns, influence, and stealth as the core skill groups to work around. It's been years since I played Shadowrun and I am finding I need more time to put together a good character.

Her background is minor executive protection, unofficial hostage rescue, etc. She runs a small shop RSC&I (Revenge, Served Cold & Investigations). Modest income, lives below her means, stays portable and light, few close attachments.

Sleeps with her favorite shotgun.

Burnt out a bit ...long work week. I'll get my covert op up tomorrow.