Greetings, all. Some of you may be surprised to see me posting here again so soon, since I usually go a while between starting up games, but I've been wanting to do more GMing on here recently, and I seem to be going a pretty solid pace with what I have right now, so I can run at least one thing more. I've also been having a number of strange and, at least to myself, interesting concepts for games to run popping into my head lately. As such, I figure at least an interest check to see if people are intrigued at all can't hurt. Assuming enough interest in a given direction, I'm happy to run some sort of game.
I don't want to run this like the average interest check thread, since A) average isn't fun and B) my ideas are a little odd for just that. Plus I want to gauge not only how people might feel about my specific ideas, but also general interest and experience people have with given topics and settings and (perhaps less importantly, but still important enough to ask) game systems.
The long and short of it is, I'm a passionate GM who's interested in doing slightly different kinds of games, not just the usual PBP AP fare (not that there's anything wrong with that, I enjoy them immensely as a player). In the past I've run (or attempted to run), with varying degrees of success, everything from a Jade Regent game where all the PCs are Licktoad Goblins, to a couple games set in the Fallout universe, to my recently-started 5E game set in a fantasy Western. I like to bring strong writing, fun characters, and offbeat ideas and settings to the games, to hopefully offer a unique experience you might not find with the general game. So if that sounds good to you, please respond to each of the following categories to let me know...
--H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos: More focused on Lovecraft's original writings, and those of his contemporaries, but general knowledge of what's happened since then as well. Who are your favorite Ancient Ones, what's your favorite story, ever played in a Cthulhu-themed game before? Even if you're not super familiar with it yourself, is there any other weird fiction, or authors thereof, that you like?
--Cyberpunk: You certainly don't have to have read Neuromancer to appreciate futuristic dystopias, street samurai, and chrome-plated criminals. What have you read, what have you seen, what have you played? Do you lean more black hat or pink mohawk? There's plenty to be said and I can't come up with examples for everything.
--Zombies: I'm sure everyone's at least passing familiar, but the genre's a lot bigger than it might look at first glance. What do you know, and what do you like? Fast or slow zombies? Truly undead, or the result of a virus? Shoot for the head, or chop them to pieces?
--Victorian Era: Possibly in England, but more likely in America. Almost definitely not steampunk, since I don't love that genre.
--1920s/30s U.S.: Yeah, there's a number of differences between these decades, but there's a fair amount of similarity as well, especially in the types of stories set in the period. Feel free to state your preference between the two.
--The Modern Day: I find it a tad boring to just run games set in the modern day, so if we go here expect some sort of twist. Still, there's plenty to work with.
--Apocalyptic/Post-Apocalyptic: Lots of post-apoc media out there, but there are plenty of ways to keep things fresh and make original stories. Less common but perhaps even more interesting is setting something more directly during the event: the last days before an asteroid strike, the first days of a zombie outbreak, something like that.
--"Feudal Japan": The oddball dark horse of this group, and one that I kind of hesitate to even include since it's a super vague idea that's popped into my head of late, mostly due to my recent reading. I put it in quotes because I wouldn't necessarily constrain myself to the true feudal period, since there's lots of interesting time periods, and I wouldn't necessarily constrain a game to being set in actual real-life Japan, even as an opener. I just think samurai types versus Cthulhu or zombies could be fun to play.
Call of Cthulhu, 7th Edition
Savage Worlds (Deluxe Edition, the most recent)
Shadowrun, 4th Edition
I know that was a lot, but don't feel you have to respond to every individual subject in each spoiler; just let me know your favorites or thoughts. Please do try to respond to all of them, though, since that can give me a better idea of what people like and want to play. Since this is an interest check, there are no deadlines or anything like that; I just hope some people can work through the text walls and let me know what game I can run to give some people a good time!
Well, I think that a solid yes to basically everything on your lists from me. The only thing I don't have access to is the actual rules for Call of Cthuhlu.
I think a post-apoc/steampunk/tech game a la Borderlands or Fallout would be fun. I'd prefer Pathfinder (as it's both the system I'm most familiar with and my favorite) and high-ish level to represent the kind of people that survive out there, but other than that there's not a lot I'm picky on.
I just have this idea of the classic fantasy game (e.g. Pathfinder on Golarion) with the added fun of guns, tech, and "wasteland" survival, and it sounds pretty sweet to me.
(Obviously quite a bit of reflavoring will have to be done, but that just gets the creative gears turning!)
Oh, I love me some cyberpunk. And when you add in all the magic of Shadowrun, how could you go wrong? It's one of my favorite settings, and 4e is my favorite version of it. I've got several ideas for different types of groups.
For a variant, what about post-apocalyptic Shadowrun?
Funny you should mention that, Philo Pharynx, as it's actually one of my more specific campaign ideas. I guess I'll summarize some of those as well, so people can offer what they think of the specific campaign ideas I have so far (and bump the thread a bit). Note that this isn't a complete list of everything I'd want or be willing to run, it's just a few concepts that have been bouncing around lately.
That's really it for now, but a little more look at my thoughts, my limited planning (I kind of prefer to improvise more as a GM), and such if you like.
I am new to the PbP but I am quite interested in the Cthulhupunk, Shadowrun Apocalypse, and Viglantes vs Cthulhu. Quick question regarding the last one: what system would you be running it in?
Ive never done shadowrun before. Could be fun
Quick question regarding the last one: what system would you be running it in?
Again, not totally decided on that, and that's part of why I asked people about their familiarity with and access to different systems in the first post. I'm currently split between Call of Cthulhu and Savage Worlds; I'm more familiar with the second, but I think in some ways CoC would fit a lot better with some tweaking (mostly drawing from the Pulp Cthulhu supplement). In the end it'll depend at least in part on what people know and have access to.
I'm not a fan of the BRP system, despite gaming with Steve Perrin. My game preferences are Shadowrun 4, then Savage Worlds.
Let's see:
A note on Cthulhu-themed games since you both mentioned it, and it is a valid concern for many people: I'm not into the whole meat-grinder, insanity-guaranteed, death-not-optional Cthulhu style gameplay either. Were Lovecraft's original stories usually pretty bleak in the end, with the implicit reality being that the Ancient Ones are unstoppable and the world is going to be destroyed? Perhaps. But there are lots of good stories where the heroes win. Any Mythos-themed game I run will be geared much more toward an ending akin to "We hit Cthulhu with the boat and he went back to sleep!" rather than "Well, Azathoth woke up and let's face it, we never had a chance, too bad we spent months and a dozen characters trying."
vigilantes vs. zombies would be better.
...That's an interesting idea, one I hadn't had. I'd need to think some things out if I wanted to go that route, but there's certainly neat stuff to be had there. Probably an idea I'll come back to at some point, although not just now.
1.1: I'm more of a Marvel gal myself, but DC-and especially Batman-can shine with utter brilliance at times. Anything by Frank Miller I pick up on principle, and Dark Knight Returns and Year One are some of my favorite graphic novels.
1.2: I actually picked up a copy of the Necronomicon (all of the HP Lovecraft stories worth reading, apparently) in an attempt to get into the mythos. Haven't really pored through it yet, but so far my favorites at Nylarthotep and Yog-Sothoth.
1.3: Cyberpunk is awesome. That is all I have to say on the matter.
1.4: I can't really offer my opinion on the "zombie" genre as a whole, since zombies are more of a tool that can be used than a genre in of itself. I prefer gritty, survival- and character- focused zombie stories with themes of "how far you are willing to go to save yourself" themes; or at the other end of the scale Dead Rising type absolutely silly games.
2.1: Victorian Era is fun, although in our personal sessions it usually devolves into laughing at each other's British accents within half an hour.
2.2: I've been recently getting into 20's-30's pulp fiction, and am pretty enthralled with the genre right now.
2.3: Kind of agree with you on that part.
2.4: Interesting if done well, cringe-worthy if not.
2.5: YAS, in a word. Feudal Japan is such an interesting era, and astonishingly underutilized.
3.1: Nope, I don't have access to it, sadly.
3.2 Savage Worlds is great for fun, fast gameplay, and I love it. Has a very cinematic tone to it.
3.3: I have 5th Edition, although it was really easy to break. Like, I found an exploit that let me tank a grenade with a starting character easy. I don't have 4th Edition, though.
1. Very familiar with all of these topics, so no problems there. I'm probably more interested in anything but zombies; I don't hate zombies or anything, but I sometimes get the feeling that they're a little overdone. I don't see Cyberpunk on the boards much, so that'd be neat.
2. I'm interested in all of those time periods/settings, but I'm already in games that feature a number of those. Either modern day/futuristic or Feudal Japan would be my top pick, I think, as I see them less often and I'd like to try them out.
3. I don't have CoC, but I do have Savage Worlds and the entirity of SR's 4E run; if we end up running that and people need the books, feel free to ask and I'll try to get them to you.
Also, the "Escape from New York" style mission someone else mentioned would be very neat, too.
@DoomKitten: In my experience with 4E, you can never REALLY break the game. I've seen characters at creation that can default on rolls and withstand rifle rounds, let alone what they can do if they roll to actually soak the damage. The thing is, the enemy has access to everything you do so however you break the game for yourself they can just copy you and be broken too! Also, almost every character build idea in 4E can be made viable and all together very silly, which is why I love it compared to 5E.
DC/Batman comics: I'm pretty familiar with the Batman mythos, but my favorite DC hero is the flash.
HP lovecraft/Chtulhu: I read an omnibus of lovecraft's stories when I was 14-15, but I haven't really read anything since then (although it does seem that games set in/against the elder gods has increased considerably in the last half decade or so).
Cyberpunk: I've been playing shadowrun off and on again since 2nd edition. I played in a short run cyberpunk 2020 game back in the 90s, and I'm a fan of Dystopian future stories in general.
Zombies: I prefer slow zombies. slow zombies are scary, fast zombies are completely unfair.
While I am certainly a fan of both of these ideas, my main problem is with shadowrun's later editions: 4th edition on completely broke mages. by removing the rule that you had to purchase spells at specific force levels, but not significantly making changes to how drain works, mages rule the world. If we wanted to do something like that, I would recommend that we use pathfinder plus the technology guide stuff, with the rule for commonplace guns (the one that says that everyone knows how to use guns effectively.)
I like this idea a lot and would be what I would vote fore.
Since I'm continually checking in here to see what folks are saying, as well as to keep the thread visible, I'll tally up some responses so far...
Seems like cyberpunk is by far the most popular choice so far, with 7 people saying on some level that they enjoy it and would like to play. Within that, there's some split between Cthulhupunk and an apocalyptic themed game, but it seems that Cthulhupunk is edging higher by a slight margin. Most of the other ideas seem to be getting mixed responses; zombies definitely need something else going on, vigilantes vs. Cthulhu people are unsure of (not surprising, I was unsure of it myself when the idea cropped up), and Feudal Japan is getting a small group behind it. At the moment though, looks like cyberpunk is our winner.
I'm not closing interest just yet, and not declaring outright that that's what I'll run, but I'll narrow down some other questions for that concept.
1. Which sounds more appealing to you, a Cthuloid-themed game, or an apocalypse-themed game? There could be overlap, intermingling, and so forth, but as far as overall themes, which do you prefer?
Since there's some debate over edition and systems, though...
2. How would you feel about running a game in the Shadowrun setting, but using Savage Worlds? Might sound crazy, but I think SW has enough support and is modular enough that I can put stuff together. This doesn't help the problem if you don't like the system, or don't have it, of course, but if people do have it as opposed to specifically 4th edition Shadowrun (the only edition I have, and it would be tough for me to get enough of another to feel comfortable running it, let alone time spent learning the system), it could help. It's also a lot faster to pick up and learn than Shadowrun is. I'd have to do some up-front work converting stuff but it wouldn't be all that awful.
By the way, I should note that if I run anything sufficiently modern/futuristic (say 1920s onward), there's basically no chance of my running it in Pathfinder. I do like Pathfinder, it's a great game with a ton of support and options, but I don't like it for modern games. My biggest thing is that I don't feel like class-based systems do a good job of making modern characters (also one of the reasons I don't like d20modern), but there's also the fact that Pathfinder is geared towards a certain kind of adventure, campaign, and game, and we're doing something wildly different. The system can stretch, but when I've stretched it this much in the past, it's really started to show.
Now that would interesting ...
I think parts of Cthulhu, Steampunk, Shadowrun, and Fallout using the Savage Worlds game system would be a great game.
It's been a long while since I ran in Shadowrun. Speaking about Cthulhu, it was kind of cool seeing that salute to it in Fallout 4. But instead of a pushover Deathclaw versus a Laser Mini-Gun, in Cthulhupunk/shadowrun apocalypse, you can make it a real Cthulhu Aberration.
Actually exchange Steampunk for Cyberpunk above...
I think parts of Cthulhu, Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, and Fallout using the Savage Worlds game system would be a great game.
That reminds me, the same company that made the new Witcher 3 is making a Cyberpunk game and it looks pretty cool!
I definitely can see some overlap between Cthuloid and Apocalyptic. I can see something happening in a part of the world, and all of the media companies are spreading a convenient lie about it.
I do prefer 4e to savage worlds. I've seen some okay "Savagerun" hacks, but converting to the more generic magic system loses a lot of the specific flavor and some of the other options aren't supported so well.
@Vrog, Oh, I don't think 4e made mages overly powerful. They are more flexible, for sure. But the limit on how many successes that can be applied still means that if you cast a spell at low level, you get less effect. I've seen plenty of effective martial characters that balance them well.
If you really like the Vigilantes vs. Cthuhlu idea, you could cross it over with Cthuhlupunk stuff and make it Batman Beyond vs. Cthuhlu.
Or not. I'm fine with pretty much any of these ideas.
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I agree with Philo on all counts, actually.
I can see the overlap between the two, and I can definitely see how shadowrunners might end up embroiled in the mix. There are some old SR modules from previous additions that would work well as a "starting" position for a story like that. However, I think I'd prefer more of a focus on "Cthuloid" over "Apocalypse", personally. An interesting thing might be something like Chicago, which is overrun by giant bug spirits; if we were to have to go into areas like that on occasion it might be interesting, while at other points we're in a more traditional SR backdrop.
I don't feel that 4E unbalanced mages at all, actually. It's a little different and you have to adapt to that, I wouldn't say its unbalanced. If anything, I'd say adepts might be worse; they're able to make up for the inability to make more melee attacks by bumping their damage way, way too high compared to another character. Even then, just putting a cap on how many times you can purchase Killing Hands fixes that real quick. I can build a character that can withstand a rocket launcher at creation, SR is crazy. The only thing I really dislike in later editions is Technomancers and their ilk, and that's because I like the flavor of decking way more.
Also, SW feels a little too generic to me to play Shadowrun with. There are too many very specific sub-rules for SR, and I think you lose some of that if you convert it to a more generic system. Also, while I like SW I'm in I think 4-5 games on the boards using that ruleset, and I'd like a change of pace in SR.
I'd be fine with shadowrun (I love the setting, I just....this is not really the place for my multipage rant, so I will digress), savage worlds, or even something more out there (like Cthulhutech, the strange, or eclipse phase; Hell, for that matter Feng Shui just dropped a 2nd edition book not too long ago). I would lean more towards apocalypse as it tends to be a bit more sandbox then an mythos style campaign, which as a general rule tends to involve more investigation into finding a ritual to close the portal before it's too late! where as PA tends to be more "try to find something to eat while avoiding whatever it is that caused the apocalypse". Neither are bad, but I think that PA/Apocalypse tends to allow a wider range of characters to flourish.
All of the above being said, I would be interested in playing something more cyberpunk than gaslight, mainly cause I want a cybernetic arm.
I really want to try Cthulhu-tech =^^=
I've been monitoring the boards for mentions of "Savage Worlds", and just want to jump in here to say that I'd be interested in *anything* using SW as a system. Altho I'm not as interested in massively dystopian apocalyptic futures, or zombies. And regarding Cthulu, "you're going to die or go insane" is a bit off-putting, but running around in a Cthulu-oriented world would be ok (like Philo Pharynx above).
Cyberpunk is fine, and I'm currently involved with a SW game on these boards that uses the Interface Zero 2.0 SW setting, and is working out well as a cyberpunk system/background. As a matter of fact, it seems that re-introducing the basic SW magic backgrounds to IFZ would end up being very similar to Shadowrun...
But, I'm pretty much in for anything if it's run in SW!
I vote for the Japanese setting with Lovecraftian tones... and possibly some Fatal Frame ones!
Yep... I'm a rebel and combined two of your ideas, Mr.Blanc.
If you want to do the setting I proposed, I will literally buy you a copy of the Secrets of Japan book by Chaosium. It is intended for a more modern game but has a glut of Japanese customs, religions, Lovecraftian twists on the area throughout history, ect. Some fans didn't like it because it had more of a manga tone than a 'rocks fall, everyone dies or goes insane' one, but I enjoyed it.
Edit
I have Cthulhutech as well, since that was mentioned upthread.
1. Yeah, Lovecraft mythos sounds more appealing to me, honestly.
2. I would love a SW game within the SR setting! Question: are we finally gonna find out who assassinated Dunkelzahn?! He was one of the only good guys, for Chrissakes? Or did someone already reveal it, and I'm just not keeping up with the times.
Also, as I mentioned before, I have all of the SR books for 4th Edition on hand. If we end up using it and someone wants to play who doesn't have the books, feel free to shoot me a PM and I'll send you a .zip file with them in it or something similar.
Feudal Japan
Feudal Japan
Depends on what rules are used.
I vote for the Japanese setting with Lovecraftian tones... and possibly some Fatal Frame ones!
Yep... I'm a rebel and combined two of your ideas, Mr.Blanc.
I actually kind of like this idea. It would certainly be very different from anything I've really done before. The closest I've ever played to this type of thing was a one-shot horror thing in that setting I mentioned earlier.
Well, it's been a couple days, and I think that's all the interest I'm gonna get with this thread, at least. That said, I think our winner is very clear, and while the other games that were suggested by myself and others are interesting and I'm certain I'll try them at some point, for now, it looks like Cyberpunk Cthulhoid is our winner, with a dash of apocalyptic thrown in for good measure, perhaps. I'll be running it in 4th Edition, because while a "SavageRun" setup could be interesting, it would probably be a lot of work to get something that won't feel quite right.
All that said, I'll hopefully be getting up a recruitment thread in a day or two. I'm moving back into college tomorrow, so I don't expect to get too much done until the evening at best, but hopefully by Thursday night I'll have a thread up with character creation and all (although it'll be almost entirely the standard 4th edition rules, so if you want to star working on a submission, go ahead).
I'm going to make a character with a robbit arm.
I am completely new to this, but is the 20th Anniversary Corebook good for 4e?
Alright, I'll have to dust off my 4e Shadowrun books. Maybe I'll dust off the last character I played in Cthuhlu run too. He died suicide bombing a gug priest. It was fun.
I am completely new to this, but is the 20th Anniversary Corebook good for 4e?
Yep, in fact, it's probably the best place to start, as it compiles some rules from the other 4e sources that came out after the original core. It's even got a master index in the back so you can reference other books as well. It's what I use to reference the basic game rules for 4e myself.
Thanks!
Batman & DC Comics : Interest (Moderate), Familiarity (Moderate). I'm an oddity in that most of my time with all comics come from TV and Movies, rather than comics. Had a parent who thougth comics were a waste of time, so I didn't start doing comics until I was in college (and away from home). I've always preferred Batman of all the DC comic characters, primarily because he's the only one who doesn't crutch on his super powers. Although I'll be honest and admit that Green Arrow and Flash are really growing on me now that CW has done them (Supergirl too). Legends I'm forcing myself through. Of the classic 'big names' in DC, Batman is the preferred character. I did enjoy the Teen Titans (Young Justice) episodes, very well done. BMTAS is of course, the top of the line (hard to hate something that birthed Harley Quinn!). Hated BvS, was pleasantly surprised by Suicide Squad. Liked Man of Steel. Was shocked at how good Ben Affleck was as an older Batman.
HP Lovecraft/Cthulhu : Interest (Minimal), Familiary (Minimal). Never really been into Cthulhu stuff. Have used some of it, and read some and watched some movies, but it's never been a strong interest.
Cyberpunk : Interest (High), Familiarity (High). Read a lot of Gibson's books. Have played CP 2020 a couple of times, have some of the books. Have seen most of the cyberpunk type movies (Blade Runner for the win obviously). Asimov had a good take on it, even though it wasn't a cyberpunk mythos. I've read most of the original Shadowrun novels, and GM'd Shadowrun off and on since 2nd edition.
Zombies : Interest (Moderate), Familiarity (High). I've watched, just about, every Zombie movie ever except for World War Z (not a fan of the star) and Zombeavers (no thank you). I've never been a fan of zombie survival games though, nor of zombie RPGs. Not sure why. Love the movies, not playing in them. Meh.
Victorian Era : Interest (Minimal), Familiarity (Minimal). Honestly, love Sherlock Holmes, but never was much into VE except as Steampunk other than Holmes. The League of Distinguished Gentlemen, however, was a really fun movie and had things going for it in that era.
1920s/1930s : Interest (Minimal), Familiarity (Minimal). Mostly this would be old war movies, especially old John Wayne movies. The Flying Tigers!
Modern Day : Interest (Moderate), Familiarity (High). This is where things like Vampire, Werewolf, Supers, Espionage, and Special Forces type games go. I've played quite a few in the modern world. Even sci-fi set in the modern world (only humans with access to alien tech for example). Martial Arts can also work for this (Kinichi : The World's Mightest Disciple!). Ghostly stuff like Yu Yu Hakusho also works for this.
Apocalyptic/PostApocalyptic : Interest (Minimal), Familiarity (Moderate). My problem with this is it's generally applied to Zombie stuff. I have played in Twilight 2000, which is post world-war 3 which was fun.
Fuedal Japan : Interest (Moderate), Familiarity (Moderate). I also apply this as the Three Kingdoms period of China as well. Love anime, and a lot of anime is in this era. Rurouni Kenshin is a great Anime.
Sci-Fi : Interest (High), Familiarity (High). Not on your list, but thought I should add it. This can be a lot of fun, and fit in well with Fuedal Japan type stuff (Gundam, Irregulars at Magical High, etc).
Call of Cthulhu, 7th : No access or familiarity
Savage Worlds (Deluxe Edition) : No access, minimal familiarity
Shadowrun (4th Edition) : Full access, great familiarity. Also high familiarity with 3rd edition, and passing familiarity with 5th.
GURPS (Third edition) : Full Access, Great familiarity.
GURPS (Fourth Edition) : High Access, Passing Familiarity.
Cyberpunk 2020 (2nd edition) : Full Access, Moderate Familiarity
BESM (2nd edition) : High Access, Passing Familiarity
Now are we building as standard shadowrunners who know nothing at the start or are we already aware of problems?
I really hope that you are using point buy and not the priority system. Are we starting runners or more experienced?
Since we're now doing a shadowrun game, can I suggest combining shadowrun and earthdawn's horrors? If you've read any of the novels, you'll know that the horrors are closing in on the 6th world and they are truly horrific. creatures that effect people's thoughts, creatures that can mark people and work their powers through them....the choices are pretty awesome (in every sense of the word).
All these answers and more will be provided in the main recruitment, but I'll give brief responses now: you won't be aware of the problem, and you'll probably be either relatively novice runners with a few jobs under your belts, or else entirely new to the game but with other experience that provide you some skills and/or cash. And we will be using points, I don't like the priority system.
As far as Earthdawn's horrors, I don't really know much of anything about them, but it certainly sounds like they fit the bill. I'll read up. You won't be finding out the realities of what's going on anytime too soon anyway, so that'll give me time to decide.
I'm leaning right now to either a social adept or a street Sammy.
I may be late to this thread, but I am right now with both my copy of the Necronomicon and my Borderlands games in my hands (I am typing with my mind, such are the blessing of the Old Ones)
Anyway, consider this thread and the follow-up recruitment as being monitored.
Only problem, tho, is I have virtually no experience with the Shadowrun system... but I have found that the 20th Anniversary CRB is pretty easy to understand, d6 pool system too and having explanations the like of those in Mutants&Masterminds about BP limits and the relative skill compared with the rest makes it reeeally easy to learn how to create a Shadowrunner.
This post is getting long, but allow me to finush saying that the image of a street sam slicing and dicing a soggoth does hype me extremely.
I'm taking the Combat Mage straight out of the 20th Anniversary Sample Characters, pretty much as-is, altho I might change some of the spells...
Hmmm... I'm thinking either face mage or an ex-soldier.
heh, totally new to this, so will have to look at stuff before i even try to submit :P
Okay Loup, I have a question before I get too wedded to a concept. Are you okay with the exotic options from the companion? Shifters and drakes and pixies, oh my! I tend to play weird stuff, but I can keep it more conventional if you prefer.
I got another question to add for Loup to ask when he comes to check. Three questions actually.
First one is: What is the maximum Availability rating that characters can purchase at character creation? Specifically I'm looking at Colt Manhunter (which is a 8R heavy pistol) and the glorious Warhawk (12R revolver).
Linked to that question: what is necessary to buy said Restricted items legally? I mean, I may or may not be thinking about a Cop turned PI turned Runner who will have contacts back in the security forces and the gun will probably be the one he used to brandish.
And finally, as I have never played Shadowrun: how much specialization is needed for a character? Given my concept of L.A.Noir meets Cyberpunk, I figured a splash of skills would be appropiate: some stealth, some interrogating and negociating skills, a couple points in driving ground vehicles, some athletics, a good dose of perception and tracking and obviously the Man should know how to handle a pistol and fisticuffing.
But having all that means he doesn't fill a real particular niche: he is simply a tough man with a broad skillset related to his profession.
I too will need some help, but i have a concept in my mind, after skimming a few parts of the rule book and a few resources online =^^=
Shadowrun is about three things :
A) Reaction Time - He who goes first and most often, wins.
B) Specialization - He who specializes, wins.
C) Geek the Mage - He who geeks the mage, wins.
What you should gather from A, B, and C above are that everything boils down to how combat effective your character is. The reason for this is that combat is extremely deadly. And the king of combat is the person who goes first and most often. It doesn't matter what skills you have, or how good a backstory you have, if the street samurai puts 30 rounds into you from his uzi in the time it takes you to fire your SA Heavy Pistol at him twice.
Example :
Joe Rent-A-Guard : Initiative 3 + 1d6, Average 7.
El Muerte the Street Sammy : Initiative 11 + 3d6, average 22.
First round of combat : El Muerte fires two bursts from his uzi at Joe on 22. His target numbers, on a D6, is 2 or higher. Joe is wounded, and has penalties to hit, and expends his entire combat pool to reduce the damage.
Joe fires two rounds from his heavy pistol at El Muerte on 7. His target number is 4 + 1 for being lightly wounded. El Muerte dodges both rounds, using up his entire combat pool to do so.
El Muerte, on initiative pass 2, fires two more bursts at Joe on initiative 12....
El Muerte, on initiative pass 3, fires two more bursts at Joe on initiative 2... assuming Joe's still up. More likely he takes the free action to get rid of his recoil modifiers, because he knows he'll go before Joe on round 2, if Joe is still up.
El Muerte is probably rocking a soak pool of 10 dice, Joe is, after the first initiative pass, probably rocking a soak pool of 3 dice.
I love the idea of the grizzled veteran PI, but in Shadowrun, that PI has to be wired or magic'd up, or he's going to be dead.
What does "geek the mage" mean?
"Geek" means kill.
Damn, I love Shadowrun slang.