Hey all, welcome to Discussion! I'll be trying to get Gameplay up and moving along shortly, so it'll be up by Friday at the latest (hopefully Wednesday or Thursday). For now, feel free to discuss some team dynamics and such and perhaps flesh out some more reasons why your characters might have split up. While I do love a lot of the reasons you all have, most of them stick more or less to Derek, and I'd love to see some branching out even if he's the main reason. Feel free to ask me any questions you have and I'll answer them ASAP.
Checking in for Blue. I will have his profile up and running soon.
Dotting for now. Not entirely set on the portrait, but, hey, my concepts are usually not very... traditional, and Shadowrun does limit them further.
One Heavy Weapons specialist, signing up.
Glad you're well, GM!
Checking in.
More Boom for your buck.
I think I might actually change my contact to Rachel from my back story, simply because I fits well. I imagine her at loyalty 6, mostly due to a beaming personality, and she's a veterinarian specializing in Awakened animals. Might also serve as a street doc in a pinch, and may be a source of those low-paying, feel good missions, where you get paid drek. Might not be practical, and I'm fully open to the GM doing grim, diabolical, gray 2070 Shadowrun things for the sake of the story, but I feel like that's my preferred option for a contact.
I'll be home in a couple of hours, maybe we can plop in relationship suggestions?
Hey Chummers, Alter is all ready to go. I'll look over everyone's backstories a bit and come up with some ideas later today.
Hey all, glad to be here! I still don't have my backstory in the profile, but I've got it all worked out in my head--at least in the necessary details--so I'd be happy to talk about prior relations. I know we all have the obvious connection of being from the old team, so there's that, but deepening it with some knowledge of past events and how our characters view one another is probably a good plan.
I'll try and have the backstory up on Michael soonish, but for now, the basics are that he's an adept skilled in infiltration and close-quarters combat, and he doesn't remember much from before he joined the team--it was a pretty quick jump to running from when he first "woke up" on a train to Seattle.
Blue here, I am really looking forward to this game. DM Jon is doing a bang-up job in another game I am in and I am pretty excited to have his skills in a Shadowrun game.
@Alter, what are your thoughts on Bogatir having something to do with the loss of your arm? I'm not saying it was entirely his fault, as you did establish it was Derek's fault, but enough for him to feel guilty about forcing implants on someone under his care. Maybe Derek got a twitch, sending a drone into Ismail's hand midway through a barrage, leading to Alter taking some lead?
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Alright, I've put down some thoughts and possible reactions Alter might have to the rest of the crew, except for Michael Shepherd because that backstory hasn't been put up yet. Alter is pretty complicated when it comes to interpersonal relationships since she has different memories of each person.
"Blue" - Shaman
Hikari: Finds Blue odd and unsettling, avoids
Taiyo: Thinks he's stuck up like most Elves are
Tsuki: Likes to play tricks back on Blue
Charles Berger/"Bronze" - Street Sam
Hikari: Scared of Bronze
Taiyo: Likes to go with Bronze to the firing range to practice with her new cyberarm
Tsuki: Thinks he needs to have more fun
Dan Morgan/"Junkyard" - Mechanic & B&E
Hikari: Enjoys sitting in silence and knows she can do that around Dan.
Taiyo: Is very expressive in her hatred of Derek, probably expecting Dan to back her up.
Tsuki: Wants to get Dan out of his shell, loosen him up so he can enjoy more of life.
Ismail Ulyanovich Aslanov/"Bogatir" - Street Sam
Hikari: Reminds her of Desperado, the man who broke her out of Renraku, soft spot
Taiyo: Feels comfortable around Bogatir, protected
Tsuki: Gives Bogatir a lot of crap for his melancholic attitude, doesn't really consider his shorter lifespan or know about his condition
"Michael Shepherd" - One Punch Man Adept & B&E
Unknown, don't know anything yet.
None of these are set in stone, just some initial thoughts.
Bogatir: The backstory you wrote for Bogatir (which is great btw) made me think of Alter's rescuer Desperado. Not exactly the same of course but a security expert who's just looking for some peace and quiet. If we included Bogatir in the accident, I imagine Taiyo (the personality that surfaced when she lost her arm) would give Bogatir a lot of crap for it but it wouldn't really be anger, that's definitely reserved for Derek.
Greetings! I exist. Please pay no attention to the Commlink, Gear, Money, or Vehicles sections as they are still under construction.
EDIT: Please not that the avatar is not colored properly. Please see my description...
@Jon, the Evil DM: I do have some questions now that I think about them. So, in 4e and 5e, there are a few major problems with the Matrix rules as written so I am wondering how you want to deal with them for this game. Specifically, the issues of Hackastack, Agent Smith, Dropout, and Hall of Mirrors. If you aren't familiar with the problems I can give a good description of them but I find that experienced DMs generally have ways they prefer to deal with those issues.
@Alter, that'll work for me, regarding the incident. And, thanks! I enjoyed writing Bogatir immensely, so I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I think I'll wait until everyone's here until I continue, regarding the backstory connection. In general, Bogatir is shifting between introspective, philosophical melancholia, and a positive, happy attitude that he's rejoined with his last lasting friends.
On a casual day, Bogatir almost looks like the stereotypical Russian pensioner. Dressed with a cheap, washed to the point of being almost white shirt, a set of reading glasses hanging on a string around the neck. He completes the outfit with a set of boring and somewhat stretched suit pants, worn shoes, and a dusty paddy cap on his head, a sad look in his eyes. The look is broken by an extensive top-body replacement cybersuite, the words "Йаматецу: Проект Богатырь" written in several places with small letters.
The suit begins from the back of his head, where under the ever-thinning hair a plethora of cables starts appearing under the wrinkled skin, and connect to his spine. His neck appears to be covered by metal, as it peeks under the undone top button, to reveal the chest being just as covered with the metal. A set of cyberarms is attached to his bulky shoulders, and as the forehands appear from the rolled up sleeves, it's visible that the arms are much, much more than the average prosthetic. Built from the same gleaning metal, they are almost the size of troll arms, yet their size isn't their most spectacular feature, but rather the four folded fins, occasionally twitching.
When on a run, the everyday clothes are replaced by a heavy black-and-green armour, lacking any insignias, and a set of brutal boots. His head is covered by a helmet, where his face peeks, a gas-mask hanging in the place of his reading glasses. The arms are carrying a massive instrument of destruction, a Ruhrmetal SF-20 heavy machinegun, usually mounted on top of a military APC, heavily modified for single metahuman use, with the words "Молодец" lovingly hand inscribed on it. Bogatir uses the heavy weapon in the same way others would use an assault rifle, firing the ninety-pound weapon in the same way others might fire their carbine, the weighted fins on his arms twitching as lead flies.
That's Bogatir's descriptions. Decided to showcase the fact that just one of his arms costs just under 35k. And there's the literally disgustingly expensive Alphaware Move-by-Wire, coming in at a whopping 170k, or five times more than 'an arm and a leg'.
Hmm... we haven't heard from our former Lone Star member yet, I'm going to shoot him a PM real quick and see what's up. Otherwise, really enjoying what you've got going on here! I'm digging you guys coming up with some previous character thoughts and interactions, and I definitely would love to see even more of it. Also, if you'd all do me a favor I'd appreciate it if you could create a simple header like what Michael has; just your physical/stun condition tracks, initiative and IPs, and finally dice pools for things like Perception. Also, if you have qualities like High Pain Tolerance I'd appreciate that being marked as well, as all those things will make our inevitable combats much simpler.
As for combat, I have a question. Would you all prefer to run this with a map (generated on Roll20, most likely) or more as a "theatre of the mind" setup? I'm fine with either, although likely anything on Roll20 will just be drawn shapes and such unless I can find some good generic maps for us to use--if you know of some great SR battle maps online or something, please let me know if your preference is for map usage. I'll go with how the party votes, as I have no preference.
As for those Matrix rules Alter, could you point them out to me? While I know the system pretty well, I will admit this is my first go-round running a Shadowrun game, and I'm not familiar with the rules you're speaking of. If at any point you all have a rules question, do feel free to just tell me where to find it or something as I may not always know what you're referring to.
Blue is polite, friendly, and generally tries to be easy to be around. But he rarely lets anyone get more than skin deep.
Reactions to the rest of the team:
Alter: He is often confused by Alter's changing moods, but likes her and enjoys their exchange of pranks.
Bogatir: Blue never knew about Bogatir's condition (I couldn't figure out how long he has had the neural degeneration), but he feels comfortable around Bogatir. He has still never really allowed a close bond between them, but likes to spend time with Bogatir all the same.
Junkyard: Though Junkyard is often quiet, and one would think that Blue would enjoy a comfortable silence, there is never a comfortable silence for Blue and Junkyard. For some reason, Blue feels the need to fill the silence with Junkyard, and that makes Blue uneasy; like he might share too much.
Bronze: The chip on Bronze's shoulder makes Blue a bit uneasy, but he can understand and sees Bronze as a little bit of a kindred spirit; after all, revenge drives Blue as well.
Shepherd: Nothing yet.
@Alter: How much is known by the team of Alter's background? As a nice tie in, I would like to say that stabilizing Alter after the loss of her arm was the first use of Blue's new Heal spell. That run would have been the last Run for Blue with the whole team, as he left shortly thereafter. He would also feel a small bit of guilt, since he did not expose Derek's BTL problem to the others when he found it.
Also @ Alter: Would Alter have been willing to build Blue's commlink? He has always been paranoid about privacy, and he has a pretty tricked out commlink, but it could not have been put together by Blue, since he is not that skilled in computers.
For me, I appreciate a mapped combat, but I can work pretty well with ToM.
So, the issues of 4e and 5e Matrix rules are really more an outgrowth of the design. Since 4e was such a radical departure from 1st through 3rd edition, it had a lot of teething problems but the biggest were these four (which never got fixed despite attempts in Unwired and Shadowrun 5e).
Hackastack: If I hack things by bringing my computer into range of the target and pressing the “Go” button, why wouldn't I bring two computers? Or eight? Or twenty eight? Shadowrun is a post-industrial society, if bringing more processors to the fight is a thing that would be helpful, I can do that.
Agent Smith: If there are autonomous or semi-autonomous programs that can do stuff for me, why can't I make copies of those programs and run each copy on another computer in my Hackastack doing those things for me dozens if not hundreds of times? The whole system is based on your equipment ratings to the point where actually being a hacker essentially doesn't matter during the actual matrix actions – you just own stuff that rolls giant piles of dice against other stuff.
Dropout: If enemy hackers affect the field of battle by wirelessly hacking into our equipment through active wireless antennae, why don't we just turn the wireless antennae on all the important stuff off during missions? And if people do in fact do that, why is the hacker able to accomplish anything of note, considering that the wireless on everyone's important stuff is turned off during the mission?
Hall of Mirrors: If you have to roll dice to affect each node one by one, and each device can have its own node, can't the hacker be stymied (or at least have their entire subsystem grind to a halt) just by putting up a lot of nodes? A ten layer onion would take all night to roll the dice to penetrate, and what's actually stopping you from making it a two hundred layer onion?
Hall of Mirrors is partially cancelled out by Hackastack and Agent Smith creating a matter vs anti-matter situation assuming I ever get enough money to make the super rig but its just as easy for a megacorp to go "Lol Nope" and make a bigger Hall of Mirrors so its a vicious circle.
Dropout is the really egregious one however, because it basically shuts down any attempt to have fun as a Decker if everyone reaches the logical conclusion of just turning off their cyber-glasses when a Decker starts pumping Nightcored Sugar Plum Fairy into their eyesockets.
I do have some ideas and suggestions for how to deal with them but if you have your own ideas, its your game. :)
Hmm, those do seem like... issues, yeah. At first glance, I'm tempted to just hand-wave it all and say that as long as you don't use tactics like that as a player I won't use them as a GM--I think that's a pretty fair agreement--but that's not really in the spirit of how I do things narrative speaking, and most of those issues are things that exist beyond pure mechanics. I'd love to hear your thoughts on how to fix them, and I'll think on that and get back to you.
@ DMJon, I never saw, but maybe I just missed it, what is your feeling on how to handle bigger shapechanges than +/-2 BOD.
So, I have a general 4e question, since I have never played a decker and have never had this idea before. I have a pretty high rating commlink that I use for runs and important stuff, and I have a midrange commlink with my fake SIN and licenses and stuff. Can I have the better commlink doing the work, but doing it through the 'front' of the lower rating commlink? Basically like using a dry cleaners to cover for an illegal gambling den...
For me, I appreciate a mapped combat, but I can work pretty well with ToM.
That is not to say that everytime there is a conflict I need a map. Maybe a map for important fights, or big fights, and ToM for small, 'trash mob' fights.
Some very interesting relationships coming in here. :)
As someone whose occupation involves high explosives Junkyard doesn't like sloppy work, or surprises. So he was always hostile to Drekhead Derek.
While he gets on well enough with the others in the team Junkyard always saw shadowrunning as a job, not a life. So as long as they were professional and did their work smoothly and efficiently he was happy to work with them, but saw no real reason to hang around outside the jobs they pulled.
Alter - Two out of three ain't bad. Kikari and Taiyo are fine, and even Tsuki is only trying to get him to be a little more crazy. Even if he does tell her he's naturally boring.
Bogatir - Makes Junkyard a little cautious, both for the extreme cyberware, and the fact that he's obviously tired of shadowrunning. Even so he's a professional so Junkyard prefers to work with him.
Blue - Junkyard likes Blue, even if their interaction is mainly awkward bursts of conversation mixed with uncomfortable silence.
Bronze - Bronze is good at what he does, so Junkyard is fine with that. Though the undercurrent of hatred and his hair trigger around cops worries Junkyard.
As far a race goes Junkyard was a streetkid and doesn't see much difference between himself and anybody else at that level. He had friends and enemies of all races growing up.
He lives in a small garage in a low class area. (Neighborhood to be decided.)
@Blue, right! I didn't put the timeline around the neural thingamagic on paper, but essentially it'd started somewhere around the time the team was breaking up, and it's part of the reason Bogatir tried his best, unsuccessfully, to keep the team together.
@Team Relations:
Blue: I imagine Bogatir talking quite a lot with Blue, purely out of interest regarding the Awakened World.
Junkyard: I envision Junkyard as a high quality drinking buddy, mostly sitting in silence with the occasional discussion on something either political or technical. Or commenting on building construction.
Bronze: Quite similar, Bogatir is somewhat wary of the ex-cop turned Vory, due to some predjudice picked up regarding both in the Army. Though, he could also see enough similarities in their situation to be able to talk extensively, occasionally giving wisdom, wise or not.
Michael: I could see him advising Michael to read more books, honestly, and attempt to provide his own brand of psychological (read: philosophical) assistance.
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Bronze here, checking in.
Sorry I missed the recruitment thread updated.
I'll have a profile up and running this afternoon at the latest.
RE: motivation, Bronze is a hard case on runs. He still has a "by the book" style of behavior that's ingrained into him. He also does NOT react well to attempts at coercion or physical intimidation, as you may expect.
Off the run, he seems a lot more mellow and personable. He still prefers the company of the orks or trolls, but will socialize and pal around with his chums as he can.
The undercurrent of rage towards cops, Lone Star in particular, he knows is a flaw and tries to keep it in check. He actively avoids patrolled areas if possible, since he knows his face and presence in "polite society" is cause enough for most to interact with him. If it goes down, however, he is not afraid to down a cop, generally non-lethally, and taking his badge and patches.
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Hmm, those do seem like... issues, yeah. At first glance, I'm tempted to just hand-wave it all and say that as long as you don't use tactics like that as a player I won't use them as a GM--I think that's a pretty fair agreement--but that's not really in the spirit of how I do things narrative speaking, and most of those issues are things that exist beyond pure mechanics. I'd love to hear your thoughts on how to fix them, and I'll think on that and get back to you.
So, the general idea is the gentleman's agreement of the Player's don't nuke the GM and the GM doesn't nuke the players. A few ideas I've seen implemented before have been done like this...
Dropout: Simplest fix possible is to just say no one can turn off their wireless, not in any meaningful fashion anyway. Even if you shut your devices off entirely, even if you threw them away, hackers can still mess with you directly with the trode technology that has already been established to exist. It might require the Decker to fire some DMSO filled with trode nanopaste, but it helps the Decker be a Hacker in combat rather than a geek with a crappy gun skill (cyberarms not withstanding).
Hackastack & Hall of Mirrors: These two are easy enough to handwave as just saying "Deckers and Corps are already doing this, thats what the dice represent." It doesn't fit RAW but it makes life easier for everyone at the table.
Agent Smith: This is a tough one, one of the few changes Shadowrun 5e got right was making the characters attributes matter when it comes to hacking instead of just relying on Skill + Program Rating. As it is, if I can just buy dozens of Agents who all have high skills and are running high Program Ratings I'm essentially making my character useless except as a pointing device for my army of AI hackers. Some people have made it so Agents can't act on their own, and instead only act as a teamwork buddy for the Decker but that doesn't fit right with Agents being similar to Drones or Techno Sprites. Others have used the Hackastack handwave in combination with an Agent limit based on some limit of the primary commlink to say "Ok, you're allowed to use this many agents." Which also fixes the Spider Pants issue (the idea of stuffing your pants with micro-sized spider drones and loading Agents into each of them so you can roll hundreds of tests a round).
Just some ideas, I'll get to the additional interpersonal stuff later today.
Wow. Decker/Hacker min-maxing is absolutely hilarious in SR, it seems. Spider Pants gave me a real chuckle.
Bronze checking in!
Good to see you, Bronze!
I'm good with the gentleman's agreement being the standard for this game, so the only time you'll find me pulling something like that is if it's necessary for storytelling or to really make an enemy (definitely someone important and recurring in the story) seem dangerous in terms of their Matrix prowess. In terms of how I'll explain most of it, here goes:
Hackastack/Hall of Mirrors: While in theory this is something you could accomplish, the nature of what you're doing requires a vastly interconnected network of processors all being controlled simultaneously, something your average decker (or even corporate Spider, for that matter) just isn't capable of both procuring the funds for or physically touting around to use it on jobs, let alone paying for it. Even corps tend not to employ tactics like this because of the both the sheer physical space needed to house that computing power needed and the investments needed to keep such a thing running. Hitting a AA Megacrop black-site is about the only time you'll find something like this, and if you have the time and resources to hit a facility like that, you've already got a way to nullify or at least severely diminish the opposition you're going to be facing in the Matrix.
Dropout: Your idea seems perfectly reasonable. It's impossible to ever shut something off completely from the wireless network unless you render it completely wireless-incapable, which is time-consuming and often non-reversible. Older weaponry that requires fiber optics for Smartlink systems are immune to hacking, but even modern cybernetics need connectivity if only for the purposes of making repairs less impossible--self diagnostics are useful, after all.
Agent Smith: While Agents in the Matrix are useful, trying to use them to solve all your problems is like starting to view every problem as a nail just because you have a hammer. While Agents are capable of completing routine Matrix actions on their own, more advanced operations are difficult for them without user input. Agents have a skill rating cap of 3 and can't run programs with a Rating higher than 4. In addition, use Matrix skills for actual characters is no longer Skill+Program. Matrix operators use Skill+Logic for Matrix operations, with programs providing a dice pool bonus much like Med-kits do (Agents treat their Logic as 0 for these purposes). This prevents Agents from being just as good as actual deckers, and being able to handle difficult Matrix tasks. Also, using an Agent now counts against the number of programs you can run at a time, however using one while making checks yourself provides a +1 dice pool bonus. They can still make checks on their own as normal, however.
Does that work for you, Alter?
Hey all, still around and still excited! I know not having my backstory up makes it hard for people to gauge how character interactions should go, so I'm working on that. It's becoming a bit of a longer project than I'd anticipated--I enjoy scene writing, so I'm doing it like that--but I've got the first three parts up. They give a good look at Michael's "origins" and how he decided to start getting into running--the next part is going to be him meeting Derek, so that'll bring him pretty much up to speed with meeting the team. I'll hopefully have it wrapped up throughout the day tomorrow.
Yea, Shadowrun can get pretty silly at times. While its a really fun setting, the rules are convoluted enough to become broken without regular and smart FAQ/Errata. Which Shadowrun hasn't had for decades. Anyway... to the matrix rules. They work for me as my real intention was to get these issues out of the way before they came up in a game. To the Agent Smith issue, with that change all of my dice pools will jump by +5, topping out my Hacking at 19, Cybercombat and Electronic Warfare at 17. A significant buff on average but also not one that requires a huge amount of redesign for Node defense. Even a +1 or +2 to to Node defense quickly errodes that advantage. Otherwise, it all looks good, now to continue discussing social stuff! :)
@Alter: How much is known by the team of Alter's background? As a nice tie in, I would like to say that stabilizing Alter after the loss of her arm was the first use of Blue's new Heal spell. That run would have been the last Run for Blue with the whole team, as he left shortly thereafter. He would also feel a small bit of guilt, since he did not expose Derek's BTL problem to the others when he found it.
So, Alter also left pretty much immediately after losing her arm but stabilizing her works for me. The thing about Alter's background is that she doesn't talk about any of it except to say she ran away from her Renraku wageslave parents and burned her SIN as soon as her education and "extracurriculars" allowed her to, she's terrified of going back and suspects there's a huge bounty on her capture. So she's never said more of why she ran away than "I didn't want to be a wageslave anymore" but that's always rung hollow for those who know how to tell an evasion from the truth. However, pretty much everyone in the group would have a strange experience or two where Alter has changed her mannerisms or can't remember a conversation they had together or her going nearly catatonic for several moments in an important moment during a run. She does talk in her sleep and has woken up in cold sweats after nightmares. Anyone with medical training could have probably figured it out by now but everyone else definitely know she isn't 100% upstairs.
Also @ Alter: Would Alter have been willing to build Blue's commlink? He has always been paranoid about privacy, and he has a pretty tricked out commlink, but it could not have been put together by Blue, since he is not that skilled in computers.
Yea, she'd put together a commlink for a runner on her team. She'd feel better about the security on it.
Yeah, I plan to adjust node defenses appropriately in order to compensate for that change. All in all, I think it'll work pretty well like that. Also, just want to say again that I'm loving the connections you guys have for your characters already, I can't want to see you all interact in-character when I get Gameplay moving along. I should have that up sometime this evening.
Also, welcome Bronze! I forgot to say hello, glad to have you aboard!
@Michael, wow, that's pretty impressive! I'm looking forward to being backstabbed by you!
@GM, I am considering actually changing either the Architecture or History skill Ismail has for Philosophy, but I feel like Architecture might be actually useful for blowing up places up.
@Bronze, hey! Welcome!
Bronze's attitudes/feelings:
@Derek - sees him as a friend and ally, but unreliable and more distant than ever. Wishes he would clean up and return to work, but knows the bite of the BTL dragon lands deep and is extremely hard to kick.
@Alter - sees her as a professional ally and teammate, but does not really relax around her. Seeing the switches in mentality brings up a lot of unease about her stability, and Bronze doesn't want to get blindsided again.
@Blue - as a fellow "outcast" from their prior life, Bronze feels pretty comfortable with the changeling. He doesn't really get the whole magic thing, but that's okay - that's why the team has experts on it. Bronze is likely to share a soybeer or cigarette with Blue, and possibly socialize off the job with him.
@Michael - as a blank slate and unknown, Bronze views the human skeptically. He hasn't been betrayed and sees Michael as a competent and reliable runner, and treats him as a peer and co-worker. He keeps his guard up just a bit, but is definitely friendly.
@Ismail - Bronze probably socializes the most with the big Russian ork. They share a lot in common, after all, and their skillsets overlap enough that they will have a bunch of time together in planning. He enjoys practicing Russian and griping about the Vory. Not having worked with Bogatir has bummed Bronze out the most of the team.
@Junkyard - Bronze enjoys the shoptalk and back & forth with Junkyard, and especially likes working in the shop with him. Even if he can't really turn a wrench worth a damn, he can at least move the heavy things and apply significant torque when requested. He knows from long experience - you make friends with the Medic, and watch their hoop!
Hmm. Should I jigger the skills a bit and bump up Biotech if I'm the only one with any medic?
Also I took the Alcohol skill so Junkyard is probably brewing his own in the back of his garage. Potato vodka anyone?
Alright, after a lot of writing, the backstory is finished and in the profile. I can't help but feel like it seems a little rushed in the last couple sections, although that may just be me; the writing may not be my best, but I think it gets the important stuff across. Feel free to read through it, although I don't think Alias has fully shared the extent of the hitman thing with the group--they know there were some people after him (who are now dead), but they might not realize there are more. He also met Mister Johannessen after the group split--probably a year or so before the game starts--so he hasn't told them of that update yet. He has been reasonably up-front (as much as the term makes sense) about his amnesia as well, admitting fully that he doesn't know who he was before waking up in Seattle.
I'll be putting in one more spoiler with description in a bit, although I'll also describe him in the first Gameplay post. And since we're all doing it, here's some of Michael/Alias's thoughts on the other members of the team...
Alter: She's a good hacker, although she's a little younger than Michael would expect or truly feel comfortable with--she was still a teenager when they ran together, after all, and even if she's mature for her age, it's odd. Michael knows better than to question her skill, though, and even looks past her other oddities. The loss of her arm was a big catalyst for the team falling apart, and he wishes he could have done something to prevent it.
Blue: Similar to Alter, Michael views Blue as a skilled and valuable member of the team, but younger than he'd expect. He recognizes the young man's strange looks as being likely related to issues in his past, but he never directly brought it up much, not wanting to come across as trying to guide or control. Blue is also most likely the one who first informed Michael that he was Awakened--up to that point, he just used his powers instinctively, not even aware of how they helped him.
Bronze: Michael respects the ex-Lone Star ork, and while his hatred for law enforcement could be a potential risk, he keeps it in check well enough that it isn't a problem--certainly not as much as Derek's BTLs were. Bronze made a good sparring partner on occasion, and he was a good man to have lurking with a shotgun.
Bogatir: Michael likes Bogatir, almost views the ork as a similar spirit--especially since they're about the same age, as near as Michael can tell. Like most of the team Bogatir seems to have a past he's tried to leave behind, but he seems more at ease with it in some ways--and equally as accepting of his future fate, it seems.
Junkyard: Junkyard is a good man to have on any team, and Michael's certainly glad to have him on theirs. He appreciates Junkyard's desire for in-and-out jobs that don't have much trouble, and is happy to work with him to form infiltration plans that lend themselves to easy work. Of course, things rarely go so well, but that's why most of the team is very proficient in combat.
Oh, Ismail is probably going to talk philosophy more than the average person can handle. I am curious though, whether it's going to end up Michael and Ismail feeding each other's melancholia, or helping each other find closure.
And just like that, Gameplay is up! You all can decide if you've all arrived at the same time or in quick succession, but either way the following events take place. Feel free to ask questions if you have them.
@Alter: How much is known by the team of Alter's background? As a nice tie in, I would like to say that stabilizing Alter after the loss of her arm was the first use of Blue's new Heal spell. That run would have been the last Run for Blue with the whole team, as he left shortly thereafter. He would also feel a small bit of guilt, since he did not expose Derek's BTL problem to the others when he found it.So, Alter also left pretty much immediately after losing her arm but stabilizing her works for me. The thing about Alter's background is that she doesn't talk about any of it except to say she ran away from her Renraku wageslave parents and burned her SIN as soon as her education and "extracurriculars" allowed her to, she's terrified of going back and suspects there's a huge bounty on her capture. So she's never said more of why she ran away than "I didn't want to be a wageslave anymore" but that's always rung hollow for those who know how to tell an evasion from the truth. However, pretty much everyone in the group would have a strange experience or two where Alter has changed her mannerisms or can't remember a conversation they had together or her going nearly catatonic for several moments in an important moment during a run. She does talk in her sleep and has woken up in cold sweats after nightmares. Anyone with medical training could have probably figured it out by now but everyone else definitely know she isn't 100% upstairs.
Also @ Alter: Would Alter have been willing to build Blue's commlink? He has always been paranoid about privacy, and he has a pretty tricked out commlink, but it could not have been put together by Blue, since he is not that skilled in computers.Yea, she'd put together a commlink for a runner on her team. She'd feel better about the security on it.
If you are okay with it, I would like to have had Blue and Alter cross paths a couple of times in the between years. He understands being afraid of past bogeymen coming for you in a way that will possibly resonate between the two of them, or cause friction, even without any shared information.
Regardless, what he knows of computer use, and his fancy commlink (to his mind) are a direct result of Alter's talent, and a large reason he is still alive and free.
@Blue - as a fellow "outcast" from their prior life, Bronze feels pretty comfortable with the changeling. He doesn't really get the whole magic thing, but that's okay - that's why the team has experts on it. Bronze is likely to share a soybeer or cigarette with Blue, and possibly socialize off the job with him.
Bronze would quickly pick up, as would all the rest of the team, that Blue has never knowingly eaten a soy product. If Bronze is buying soybeers, Blue politely declines. When Blue buys a beer for the two of them, it is always real beer.
He is willing to spend time with Bronze, though his conversation is pretty superficial without coming across that way. Its one of those 'I have known the guy for years and know next to nothing about who he really is' kinds of things.
It is un-questionable that Blue had Bronze's back, though. He was as close to a loyal friend as you can get without sharing more information.
Blue: Similar to Alter, Michael views Blue as a skilled and valuable member of the team, but younger than he'd expect. He recognizes the young man's strange looks as being likely related to issues in his past, but he never directly brought it up much, not wanting to come across as trying to guide or control. Blue is also most likely the one who first informed Michael that he was Awakened--up to that point, he just used his powers instinctively, not even aware of how they helped him.
Blue would have definitely been excited to discover that Shepherd was Awakened. He often has that vague look that astrally perceiving people have. Blue has always appreciated the calm acceptance Shepherd has shown of Blue's reluctance to share about his past. He usually refers to you simply as 'Shepherd', but it is less a reference to your name as it is a title. Blue cannot really explain why, if you ever bothered to ask.
He usually refers to you simply as 'Shepherd', but it is less a reference to your name as it is a title. Blue cannot really explain why, if you ever bothered to ask.
That sounds good to me. So long as we don't hit Mass Effect levels... but then, that could be a good thing, too.
Biotic combos?! WHEEEEE!
He usually refers to you simply as 'Shepherd', but it is less a reference to your name as it is a title. Blue cannot really explain why, if you ever bothered to ask.That sounds good to me. So long as we don't hit Mass Effect levels... but then, that could be a good thing, too.
LOL
Hey DM Jon, how do you see the relationship between summoner and spirit? Do you take the view that it is always and every time an adversarial one between master and slave, or is it more circumstantial than that?
I have always preferred to view a spirit's reaction to a given summoner through the lens of how he commonly treats the spirits he summons and binds. If the summoner does not keep spirits bound for an extremely long time, or cause lasting harm to them, then spirits are more likely to react less negatively to the summoner and vice versa if he is careless/cruel to them.
Also, I would like to tweak Blue's build a little. I am going to drop the bound spirits, and pick up the Stealth spell.
Hah! Just got Bronze's quip!
Not the sharpest cyberclaw in the shed...
Oh, about the alternative to growing older?
Yeah, that's quite the dead end path.
Heh! Sorry!
It'd be 'Molodets', which roughly translates as 'hero' or 'plucky'. Usually used as a 'Good man!', when someone does something impressive.
Thanks! I don't read Cyrillic.