Alright everyone, welcome to discussion. Here we'll do out of character chatter, questions, commentary, jokes, banter, and so on and so forth. For right now, though, we'll use this as a spot to get the group together, mention character concepts and the like, and talk about importants.
We'll run on usual 400 BP for this game, with most of the typical restrictions. I've got the same books on file as you guys, so pretty much anything goes within reason. I reserve the right to veto options that seem too out there or crazy powerful. When building characters, keep in mind that I'm hoping this game finds a balance on the spectrum, but leans a little more toward black hat than pink mohawk. That said, the notorious Grinder Dandelion may make an appearance, so there's a baseline.
Also, do you guys want to keep just this group in the mix, or would you be open to bringing in some other folks? Whether recruiting on here or maybe even people we know who'd be interested.
I'm still thinking hacker/rigger, but I might go for a teched out super man as opposed to the technomancer I've been building. Not sure.
And recruitment doesn't matter to me that much either. I'd say if we want to go for it, we ask people we know first, then see if we have more room for more people.
Hey chummers, I'm posting in here to let you know about a houserule I've decided to use for character creation, specifically regarding your Contacts and the Availability limits on equipment. Spoilered below to save space, but take a look.
Essentially, this rule will allow you to get better gear based on the Contacts you have. Normally, you can purchase gear up to with up to 12 Availability at character creation; however, if you have a relevant Contact, you can add one of their Ratings (either Connections or Loyalty) to that Availability limit. For example, if you know a Street Doc with Connections 2 and Loyalty 2, you could purchase Cyberware and the like up to 14 Availability without trouble. This represents your Contact helping you out with gear.
HOWEVER, if you use the higher of the two Ratings for your Contact, it can cause repercussions later in the game, since they've really pulled you a favor of some kind. So, in another example, if you know an Arms Dealer with Connections 5 and Loyalty 2, you can get up to 14 Availability weapons without any trouble, but you could get up to 17 Availability weapons, and there might be consequences down the line. After all, your "buddy" hooked you up with a shiny new battle rifle that was supposed to go to a mob boss... and when the mob enforcers came knocking, he didn't mind feeding them a name. On the flip side, if the Arms Dealer had Loyalty 5 and Connections 2, that rifle was something he really went out of his way for, and he'll remind you of it every time you see him--especially when he needs a favor.
If you REALLY feel like risking it, you can even add one full Rating and half the other; so our Arms Dealer friend could even get you up to 18 Availability goods (5+[1/2*2]), but it was a once in a lifetime deal, and now the both of you are waiting for the drek to hit the fan.
The overall nature of the consequence depends on which Rating was lower, and the severity and likelihood depends on the difference between Ratings and the Availability of the item. Having a Connections 2/Loyalty 1 Mechanic hook you up with a 14 Availability motorcycle might result in an angry hood and his buddies showing up with baseball bats, but a Connections 1/Loyalty 6 Mechanic really stuck his neck out and took a personal risk to get you those custom wheels. And when the corp he stole those prototype blueprints from finds out about it, guess who he's gonna call?
I'm obviously playing Nathaniel, so we've got our party face and firearms expert ready to go. I may mess around with him a little bit, but I doubt he'll really change much.
Do we all want to be living in one apartment like we talked about before to make our Lifestyle costs lower? At the moment, Nathaniel's got a High Lifestyle (20 LP) using the rules from Runner's Companion, with a few bonuses and penalties thrown in to make it interesting. It's 10,000 a month for one person, so with four of us we'd get 13,000 split four ways, which is not a bad amount per month at all.
PS-- As per my and Brian's Skype conversation, we already have a landlord. A 450-pound Troll named Bruce; ex-military and involved with the mafia.
So, any word, folks? I've heard at least ideas from most of you, and it looks like right now we've got a face/gunner, a phys ad, and a decker in the mix. I'm thinking I'll contact a couple folks to see if they want to play, since I don't think another potential one or two people will be too much work, maybe fill out the team a little.
Rachel seemed interested. If we want to bring in some more people, I'm okay with that.
Hopefully Rachel will indeed play, and I've invited Julio as well, who seems at least somewhat intrigued and definitely game to join. I'm trying to catch up with him on Skype to get him info on the game and setting and help him build his character.
I also got a pleasant private message from someone on the boards here who's potentially interested in joining up, if we'll have them. You guys be okay with a potential sixth team member from the outside world? Or would we prefer to keep this a relatively private affair?
I'm cool with someone from outside our group joining. If they're cool, then another player just means the more the merrier. Also, it potentially means we can spend more money and get ourselves a b*tchin' pad if we all split the costs.
Also, hey Julio. We're a little less "adventurers" and a little more "cyberpunk para-military super criminals", but it's all the same in spirit.
You kill people, you take their stuff, you get paid. Sometimes the formula varies a little here and there, but overall, it's the same basic premise. And if Pathfinders had access to the gear Shadowrunners do, I'm pretty sure it'd play out pretty much the same, heh.
In any case, I think that we'll just be working with who we've got. I realized Skaves might be interested as well, and when I contacted him earlier he said he'll be joining up. So that gives us six, which is a pretty good number, at least for this group. If things get going and I'm feeling good, I may recruit a second table if there's enough interest and the two groups might work together or interact on occasion, but for now I think we'll run with just us.
Hoi, chummers. Been a week or so since I checked in here. I've been in contact with some of you, so I know how things are going. Julio's got his character almost finished, and Skaves should get his up and running before too much longer, once we get a chance to hash it out. So tell me, omae, how are you coming along?
I mean, Nathaniel's been essentially built for quite a bit. All I need to know whether or not we're planning on having one place as a communal living space. If we are, I'd have to adjust Nathaniel's living costs down (since we'd be sharing the cost) and would then use that BP for either other gear or other contacts, skills, etc.
As of right now, Nathaniel's apartment is 10,000 nuyen a month, and living costs increase by 10% of the original for every other person living there, to account for food. If anyone wants to live in the same place as him, hit me up and we'll work out why we share a pad.
Well, we're starting out with you guys not knowing each other for the most part--unless it's built into your backstory that two of you know each other, you probably don't.