Very interested; and also fairly new to PbP so would be a learning experience all around. =D Going to go ahead and take a stab at this with a bard character; never played one before and sounds kind of fun and perhaps appropriate. Tossing my hat into the ring with:
Firenze D'Laurent - Human Bard (Dervish Dancer) Lvl 1
You should find most of the important stuff under his background and character sheet; I'll flesh out the skills and mechanical stuff a little better once I get a chance to sit down and pour over him. At level 1 he'll be about what you might expect a bard to be like; with the exception that he'll have Battle Dance instead of Bard Song (only works on him and some of the higher level performances differ from that of a standard bard).
Background and Description
Spoiler:
Alignment:Neutral Good
Appearance: 6' 1''; Firenze has a lean, lanky build with a shock of sandy brown hair that is always stylishly tousled. His grey eyes can twinkle with mischief or appear as flat as slate depending on his mood. His easy smile has a way of disarming even the most standoffish individual.
Background: Firenze was born to noble parents in Westcrown; albeit of a mostly forgotten and low status family. In the heyday of the Chelish empire they were devout followers of Aroden and Iomedae and well liked at court. Although they were not as rich as many of the more powerful noble houses the D'Laurent's never the less had a reputation for loyalty, honor and forthright dealings. With the death of Aroden they quickly fell from favor; and the fortunes of the house fell with them. During the time of the Thrune Ascendancy his parents sent him to live with his Uncle while they traveled to Egorian to work with other houses opposing the Ascendancy of the Thrice Damned House. His parents never returned and he remained in Westcrown under the care of his Uncle Robillard D'Laurent. Although technically also a noble his Uncle was something of an infamous rake and actor of intermediate renown. He did his best to raise Firenze; and it turned out as you might imagine for a wild old bachelor raising a young boy. Firenze greatly admires his Uncle Rob and ate up his stories of heroism, romance and swashbuckling during the Age of Aroden and Cheliax's glory days that his Uncle would spin by the fire. Firenze grew up to manhood pursuing his Uncle's career (as both an actor and rake/debutante). He has never forgotten what happened to his parents, his family or his country and his heart burns with the desire to set Cheliax back on the path to glory and greatness someday and if he can avenge his dead parents at the same time then so much the better.
Firenze is smooth,urbane and generally level headed but sometimes displays poor judgement when confronted by temptation: such as fine liquor, lovely ladies or the chance to beard a foe in his den (so to speak). As such he as spent quite a bit of time on the run since reaching manhood as he oft times cannot resist tweaking the nose of a petty official for his own amusement or to distract their wrath from falling on the head of some poor, defenseless civilian.
@abraham - Love it; let's roll with that. D has enough mechanical skill to do kit based mods herself as long they don't involve electrical or software work...so she would definitely want/need to know a real mechanic. As a fellow bike lover he would get instant cred with her (especially if he is really good) and she'd have been happy to speak up for him joining the "team". :D
Let's start thinking about how the characters ran into each other - are we being put together by the corporate sponsor? Or are we an already existing group that is being picked up by a sponsor because we look like a good bet? I think personally Deirdre would have a deeper loyalty to a group she joined first on the street. She has enough professional chops as an UC biker to be an effective team player no matter what (winning the match comes first and all that) but it would make the difference between being willing to do something crazy dangerous to bail out a team mate and possibly just playing it a little safer if her own skin is on the line. Deirdre is very loyal to the few friends she does have (if any ha ha ha).
Also been tossing about some team/gang names just for kicks; do any of these strike people's fancy?
OK, here's the starting point for my character. I still have 14000Y sloshing around for my bike and other gear. I've never really put together a vehicle, so any advice on what mods to get for it would be appreciated. Any other advice on these stats is welcome too.
** spoiler omitted **
I'm guessing you will go with a Suzuki Mirage based on your Gearhead positive quality. All the vehicle mods can be found in the book "Arsenal" - I would suggest at the very minimum a vehicle weapon mount, a weapon to go on that mount and Motorcycle Gyro-Stabilization. At 14k you may not be able to reach more than that. If you can free up some BP in your build for more "muscle" for your cycle I would advise some Armor, a little security and maybe something to punch up the speed a bit (an Engine Customization or at least Nitrous Injection). If you need to free up somewhere in your build; you could potentially look at trimming back some of your top level skills - even one rank of one skill is 4 points and that is worth 20k all by itself. Alternately you could dial down the Reflex Recorders a little bit; I don't know how expensive those are but a savings there could also go towards your bike. Just some initial thoughts from scanning your sheet. Incidentally; what meta type is this character?
I'd like to claim a spot here if there's still an opening. I was thinking if I paired up with someone (a gunner or mage of some kind) on a two-man bike, I could focus on driving skills, while the other could give those up in favor of other skills. Any thoughts?
Also, where can we find information about rules and the manner of play in combat biking?
Vehicle Combat can be found starting on page 169 of the Core Rules book (here I am specifically referencing the 4th Edition 20th Anniversary book). To condense; skills that should be a focus for vehicle to vehicle combat are Gunnery, Pilot Groundcraft and possible Perception or Dodge. Mainly those first two though.
Deirdre is a hotshot biker but more a fast moving, maneuverable harasser (on bike) and a fairly durable (for an elf) tough with a nasty claw cyber-arm out of vehicle combat. Not very social but fairly flexible on and off the pavement in terms of combat.
After looking over your sheet again; it is clear they are a skill heavy character. For a character that needs/wants to have a lot skills it is very costly not to use skill groups. The single best suggestion I can give you is think about getting away from specializations and spend on skill groups instead. I found two groups that you could save big on. See below:
Switching to skill groups in just these two areas would save you 10 BP all by itself. There's a lot you can do with that; including maybe bump one of those groups up to level 3. You can't specialize with skill groups and you can't bump up an individual skill without breaking up the group; but they make up for that by being very very cost effective.
Well; an un-shielded (i.e. - doesn't protect against scanning) Smuggler's Compartment would cost 3,000 on your bike (base 1,500 x2 for overmodification) and takes up 1 slot. The amount that will fit into it varies by vehicle and really is up to the GM.
As far as redundant systems there really isn't much (that I see) that would bump the physical condition monitor of the vehicle. There are self repair systems but those would be quite expensive. The best option might be just to improve the actual armor rating of the vehicle itself.
A vehicle can have up to twice it's Body in armoring. This would also be an overmodification. The most Armor you could outfit onto your Suzuki Mirage (Body 6) would Armor 12. That would cost 4,800.
(Rating 12 * 200) x 2 for overmodification = 4,800; and takes up 1 slot.
Suzuki Mirage6,500 Handling: +2 (+2 another two against rolls that could result in a crash on failure)
Accel.: 20/50 (+20 when using nitro)
Speed: 240 (+40 from Engine Customization)
Pilot: 1
Body: 6
Armor: 4
Sensor: 1
[-]Motorcycle Gyro Stabilization slots: 1 | cost: 1,800 (Body * 300) | effect: +2 handling in situations where failure might cause a crash
[-]Engine Customization (Speed) slots: 2 | cost: 6,000 (Speed * Body * 5) | effect: +20% base speed
[-]Nitrous Injection slots: 1 | cost: 2,500 | effect:Comes with 6 charges; every combat turn it is used consumes 1 charge. During a turn in which
nitro was used Acceleration is increased by +20. After the 2nd round (and every round thereafter) of continuous use the vehicle suffers damage equal to the total number
of Combat Rounds that the nitro has been in use times 2 -- this damage can only be resisted by the vehicle's Body.
[-]Oil Slick Sprayer slots: 1 | cost: 500 | effect: 6 charges (refill for 50); activate as a Free Action to spray a slick that created Hazardous Terrain behind
you. Raises the threshold of all vehicle tests by +2.
[-]Personal Armor Rating 4 (Overmodification) slots: 2 | cost: 4,000 (2,000 x2 for overmod) | effect:Used this to simulate a covered bike for you; will add it's
rating to any damage resistance tests for damage dealt to you from outside sources while you are "inside" the vehicle.
Total Cost: 19,350
Slots Used: 7/6
This vehicle should be reasonably legal; although the Oil Slick launcher was 8F so that may be questionable. It was the highest Availability item purchased in this build.
How much are looking at spending? Since your story mentions racing at around 200kph you'll probably want to start with a Suzuki Mirage.
Also as far as weapons are you thinking more along the lines of gun(s) or spy toys like oil slicks, spiked road strips, etc and how many?
To give you some perspective a Suzuki Mirage has a capacity for mods of 6 and most modifications take 1 - 2 slots. You can work in mods over that capacity by paying double (at GM discretion).
Anyhow pick a bike from the SR4 Core Book and give me an idea of your budget and preferences and I will work up something for you if you like.
Okay went through and updated my character sheet and info; now includes the backstory, the correction to my Edge rating and the one contact that I purchased and forgot to list.
Alias:D-Frag (DiDi or Double-D for those who want to get hurt)
Name: Deirdre LeBlanc
Metatype: Elf
Character Stats:
Physical Agi: 5
Bod: 3
Rea: 5 (6)
Str: 3
Mental Cha: 3
Int: 2
Log: 2
Wil: 2
Special Edge: 1
Essence: 1.7
Magic:--
Resonance:--
Qualities Gearhead(Bikes)(15):+2 dice pool to stunts. Once per scene can add +20% to vehicle Acceleration or +1 to Handling Tough as Nails(10):+1 physical condition box Fame(Local: Courier and Enforcer for Hire)(5):+2 social dice to appropriate situations. x3 Day Job money. Intuition+Log(1) to identify you. Guts(5):+2 dice to resist fear Scorched(Former BTL Addict)(5):-2 Will against the effects of BTL and BlackIC SINNER(5):Legitimate SIN in the system Thrill Seeker(5):Composure(2) roll to resist jumping into risky situations. Day Job(Courier and Enforcer for Hire)(10):Ties up 20 hours a week and earns 7,500 nuyen a month. Distinctive Style(5): Pretty, short, blonde elf with cockney accent...in Tokyo. +3 dice pool to identify, trace or locate
*I was a thorough as possible in creation; spending 140 on Attributes and no more than 300 total. No purchased items had an availability higher than 12
All cyberware was standard bottom grade; no bioware was cultured.
Description:
Weight: 168 lbs (includes bone lacing)
Height: 5' 5"
Sex: F
Age: 29
Lifestyle: Low (1 month paid)
Deirde is a little on the short side for an elf; something of which she keenly overcompensates for with attitude. She has long
cornsilk blonde hair and intense green eyes with just a spattering of light freckles around her cheeks. She has a naturally fair,
innocent and almost waifish look to her which when combined with her distinctly un elf-like measurements (36-25-36) have had the effect
of causing people to underestimate her or make generalizations about what she is like. These characteristics are offset by light scar
running down over her left eye, her nose piercing and her flamboyantly chrome right cyber arm. If those jarring traits weren't enough her accent
(and propensity for swearing like a sailor) will quickly dispel any remaining vestiges of the waifish illusion. Originally
hailing from the emerald isle she grew up in the streets and has a jarringly guttersnipe cockney accent that tends to shock people when
it spills from her fair elven lips. Deirdre is something of a tomboy and a thrillseeker; always eager to prove that she can do it (whatever
it is) just as good as "the boys" or better. She loves a good dust up, fried foods, beer, wrestling and urban combat biking.
Backstory:
Deirdre was born Ireland to a human and elven couple. One Rainier LeBlanc (Elf) and his wife Maggie LeBlanc (Human); her parents were both middle
class corporate working stiffs. She spent the first few years of her childhood in Ireland before the family moved to New York to escape racial
tensions. Her very early childhood was fairly typical aside from the occasional tension that seemed to follow the family due to her parents
inter-racial relationship. However one night at a family dinner the restaurant where they were eating was firebombed by a group of Humanis Policlub
terrorists. That day she lost not only her parents but also her right arm and her left eye. She slipped through the cracks of the system and lived
for a time on the streets of New York becoming addicted to BTLs to escape the despair of her wretched condition and lost loved ones...she probably
would have perished there like so many others. Luckily for her instead she was picked up by a small Go-Gang in the area that saw some potential in her.
They took her to a back alley chrome shop and exchanged some favors for a working arm and eye and taught her the ropes of biking. She loved it;
the thrill of riding and the feel of being something more than just her flawed physical form filled her with a sense of power and freedom. She remained
a Go-Ganger in New York for another 10 years growing to young womanhood in the harsh streets of New York and thriving on the experience. However
eventually it become harder and harder to get the thrills and excitement she craved; when she heard of the rising phenomena of Urban Combat biking over
seas she decided to raise the cred to move to Tokyo and seek her fortune (and next big adrenaline rush) in the arena of Urban Combat Biking.
After thinking about it I also decided to also take the Distinctive Style negative quality (5pts) considering that she is a short, blonde elf with a cockney accent in Tokyo. I used those extra points (plus some shuffling of my skills) to make the following changes:
I spent the extra nuyen like so (mostly on my bike):
Engine Rebuild (Overmodification): +20% Speed
Run Flat Tires
Upgraded the security; see below
Purchased 2 Rating 4 Stim Patches
Also expanded her music collection to include 300 chips
Bike Security:
[-]Maglock 3 -> Maglock 6 with Tamper Resist Circuits (Rating 4)
[-]Added Biometrics to the Maglock: Voice and Palm Print
[-]Replaced the standard RFID tag with a Security RFID tag
[-]Replaced the standard Encrypt 3 rating of the vehicle node with Encrypt 6
If any of those changes or modifications aren't kosher let me know and I will correct. Also would it be helpful to you if I scanned a copy of my actual print character sheet and emailed it to you? Or is that overkill?
I need to make a slight correction to my sheet; in looking over other people's character sheets (and then subsequently cracking the Core Rules 4ED and reading the part about Edge more closely) I realized I juxtaposed the starting Essence and Edge values. Deirdre LeBlanc should have an Edge of 1.
I love it; plus that will really create a great "playground" for urban combat biking with layers upon layers of tangled highway, near abandoned neighborhoods and decaying urban sprawl choked with crumbling roadway in three dimensions. Really looking forward to it =D
Couldn't edit my original character post higher up anymore (for some reason) so here is a short back story of Deirdre LeBlanc (D-Frag). If this is too short and more is needed just let me know.
Backstory:
Deirdre was born in Ireland to a human and elven couple. One Rainier LeBlanc (Elf) and his wife Maggie LeBlanc (Human); her parents were both middle
class corporate working stiffs. She spent the first few years of her childhood in Ireland before the family moved to New York to escape racial
tensions. Her very early childhood was fairly typical aside from the occasional tension that seemed to follow the family due to her parents
inter-racial relationship. However one night at a family dinner the restaurant where they were eating was firebombed by a group of Humanis Policlub
terrorists. That day she lost not only her parents but also her right arm and her left eye. She slipped through the cracks of the system and lived
for a time on the streets of New York becoming addicted to BTLs to escape the despair of her wretched condition and lost loved ones...she probably
would have perished there like so many others. Luckily for her instead she was picked up by a small Go-Gang in the area that saw some potential in her.
They took her to a back alley chrome shop and exchanged some favors for a working arm and eye and taught her the ropes of biking. She loved it;
the thrill of riding and the feel of being something more than just her flawed physical form filled her with a sense of power and freedom. She remained
a Go-Ganger in New York for another 10 years growing to young womanhood in the harsh streets of New York and thriving on the experience. However
eventually it become harder and harder to get the thrills and excitement she craved; when she heard of the rising phenomena of Urban Combat biking over
seas she decided to raise the cred to move to Tokyo and seek her fortune (and next big adrenaline rush) in the arena of Urban Combat Biking.
Qualities Gearhead(Bikes)(15):+2 dice pool to stunts. Once per scene can add +20% to vehicle Acceleration or +1 to Handling Tough as Nails(10):+1 physical condition box Fame(Local: Courier and Enforcer for Hire)(5):+2 social dice to appropriate situations. x3 Day Job money. Intuition+Log(1) to identify you. Guts(5):+2 dice to resist fear Scorched(Former BTL Addict)(5):-2 Will against the effects of BTL and BlackIC SINNER(5):Legitimate SIN in the system Thrill Seeker(5):Composure(2) roll to resist jumping into risky situations. Day Job(Courier and Enforcer for Hire)(10):Ties up 20 hours a week and earns 7,500 nuyen a month.
Vehicles
Suzuki Mirage:
A highly pimped out bike that is painted in white with chrome plating. The wheels are gold plated and it has purple ground effects
Armor 12
Engine Rebuild: Accleration +20%
Motorcycle Gyro Stabilization
Pimped Ride Level 2
Fixed Weapon Mount (Ingram White Knight)
Cyberware and Bioware
[-]Datalink
[-]Commlink: Erika Elite running Iris Orb; Basic+ Program Suite
[-]Cybereyes III: Image Link; Eye Recorder; Flare Comp; Low Light Vision; Thermo Vision; Vision Enhancement I
[-]Cyberarm(Custom): Agi+2(Customized); Str+3; Body+3; Armor+2; Hand Razors
[-]Wired Reflex I
[-]Bone Lacing: Plastic
[-]Platelet Factories
[-]Enhanced Articulation
*I was a thorough as possible in creation; spending 140 on Attributes and no more than 300 total. No purchased items had an availability higher than 12
All cyberware was standard bottom grade; no bioware was cultured.
Description:
Weight: 168 lbs (includes bone lacing)
Height: 5' 5"
Sex: F
Age: 29
Lifestyle: Low (1 month paid)
Deirde is a little on the short side for an elf; something of which she keenly overcompensates for with attitude. She has long
cornsilk blonde hair and intense green eyes with just a spattering of light freckles around her cheeks. She has a naturally fair,
innocent and almost waifish look to her which when combined with her distinctly un elf-like measurements (36-25-36) have had the effect
of causing people to underestimate her or make generalizations about what she is like. These characteristics are offset by a light scar
running down over her left eye, her nose piercing and her flamboyantly chrome right cyber arm. If those jarring traits weren't enough her accent
(and propensity for swearing like a sailor) will quickly dispel any remaining vestiges of the waifish illusion. Originally
hailing from the emerald isle she grew up in the streets and has a jarringly guttersnipe cockney accent that tends to shock people when
it spills from her fair elven lips. Deirdre is something of a tomboy and a thrillseeker; always eager to prove that she can do it (whatever
it is) just as good as "the boys" or better. She loves a good dust up, fried foods, beer, wrestling and urban combat biking.
Other traits of note:
Vivid tattoos of ivy, thorns and roses which crawl around her lower back and also her right shoulder. They are high quality and expensive looking; made with glow in the dark inks.
This isn't finished yet; but I figured at least getting the character sheet, mathy parts and description up would be good. I will come back and fill in the backstory once that is all written up.
Backstory:
In Progress - will fill in once totally written up
Phew; really need to pick up a copy of hero labs..that took awhile. Character sheet fully written up and filled out but now it's super late. Will type this up in forum format sometime tomorrow and get it out.
Alright I have the numbers crunched and a character pretty well statted together. Just a few questions and I will try to get this written up and posted:
-If you mount a LMG (like an Ingram White Knight); does that mean you would use the Gunnery skill to fire it?
-It sounds like the games are not purposefully lethal (although that is totally accepted)...should we use gel rounds or assume that lethality is the unspoken standard?
-Is the Runner's Companion open for use in this game?
-Is it alright for me to play a female character? I had an NPC that I was going to use a few years back (that was a go ganger) but the game fell though; I'd really like to reuse the character concept.
That is everything I can think of; going to start writing this up and I should be able to have something posted before the day is over especially once those questions are answered
I have been dying to play in a Shadowrun 4E game forever now; and this might be my best chance to do anytime soon. Gonna throw my hat in the ring here; will cook something up ASAP and get it to you.
Once upon a time I worried about my online record being correct. After about the 5th time an error cropped up I gave up and haven't looked at it since.
Huh...does it ever come up? It sounds like the answer to that question is no.
Does anyone know what you should do if an event you have played in is still not entered (or not showing up on your character?). I have the signed chronicle sheet; do I need to follow up with the event's organizer or is there a support forum for this sort of thing? (I didn't really see one; nor a sticky thread on the subject). If anyone could just point me in the right direction that would be much appreciated.
