@Spaz: I'm sorry dude but since I'm sitting on 5 characters right now (6 if Scranford finishes up his cybermonk) I'm just gonna call it. We'll see how it works out with this many characters and if we'd be able to bring in another/if anybody drops out.
@Niles: Woo, consensus!
@1dromeda: Every engram attempt requires 24 hours, and failure means you lose all the invested time. Botching means you lose an additional 24 hours. Since every program you create has a penalty equal to the amount of AMS it uses, trying to create something like an AI sprite could potentially eat up a *lot* of time. Otherwise not really. Hackers have a lot of potential power if you make solid use of your AMS.
According to some answers on Gun Metal Games forums, "One-Time Bonus" is a terrible choice of words that means "You can only create one engram of this type per skill specialization". In other words, if you created a Knowledge: Programming engram at a +2, you couldn't then create a second Knowledge: Programming engram at +2 and have a cumulative +4. All one-time bonus means is that you can't stack skill specialization engrams.
With regards to discrimination... It depends a lot on where you go and who you're talking to. I think in general people will have an expectation that as an android, you're "the help" or somebody's property. Independent androids aren't unheard of, but they're also not the norm. Most people will respect this if they know about it, and any difficulties will be reflected in your -2 charisma penalty from the built-in Outsider hindrance. More specific people and communities may be more discriminatory towards you, usually reflected via the Racist hindrance.
There's definitely a vocal minority in the NAC that believes Androids and Sims take jobs from hard-working normies. There are also some people who straight-up disbelieve you exist as a sentient being:
REPORTER: I see. As you seem to believe the nature of humanity resides more in the immaterial than the physical, I’d be interested in hearing your opinion on androids.
PROTESTOR: I think it’s pretty obvious that they’re nothing but artificial constructs. There’s nothing there that started anywhere as remotely human, and just trying to dress those bots up in fake skin and clothes won’t ever change that.
REPORTER: There are those, however, who claim that androids, especially those equipped with more advanced AI constructs, are capable of achieving true sentience and emancipation.
PROTESTOR: Sentient androids are a myth being perpetuated by the industrial overlords who want us to worship AIs like gods. There’s nothing there but highly advanced programming.
REPORTER: What would convince you that an AI had actually achieved independent thought and deserved rights equal to your own?
PROTESTOR: I’d believe it when I saw it.
No problemo. Have fun!
Thanks for all the responses. Very helpful. Some follow-up questions.
The skill specialization bonus engram: Since we are using skill specialization rules, I expect such a program will have to be of a skill and a specialization, such as hacking (hyper combat). I further expect that this bonus doesn't help other uses of the root skill with a different specialization, so hacking (hyper combat) +1 doesn't help with hacking (firewall penetration) skill rolls.
By extension, a skill like knowledge (programming) could have a skill specialization bonus engram, that applies to any knowledge (programming) uses.
Can these be used to help with non-hacking and programming related skills? Could I have one for shooting (pistols) that would help with combat in 3D reality?
As for starting engrams 1dromeda would have, since the lost time is not a huge issue for the occasional failure given this is effort expended over time leading up to the start of the campaign, will I need to make rolls for such programs?
As currently set up, 1dromeda has a d8 in programming. So even if she is programming something that takes up 4 AMS slots and imposes a -4 on the programming roll, she has a 25% chance of success, suggesting she could probably get such a program knocked out in about a week. A -3 roll would have a 38% chance, a -2 roll would have a 48% chance, and a -1 roll would have a 67% chance.
I can say now that I doubt she would have anything more complex than a 4 AMS in use and most of her supply would be 1 and 2 AMS engrams.
Can I just assume she can have any engram requiring 4 or fewer Active Memory Sectors?
That means she could have an Expert Sprite, although this would use 4 of 5 Active Memory Sectors, so I'm not sure if it would be effective given how many other helpful programs she would have to forego. Maybe best we reserve this for a game situation, since she would likely want one tailored for a given situation. But I might make up one just to have in reserve to do some basic job, like hyper combat or data mining.
Likewise, I'll work on an avatar but maybe keep it fairly basic. I haven't looked into the details of programming things like edges or increasing the die type for traits. Let me know if you have any suggestions on that.
As for the android in society, it sounds like 1dromeda can get by without disguising herself for most daily tasks. I'll keep a Skill Specialization Bonus Engram available to apply to Stealth (Disguise) just in case she needs to pass for human. I assume she could attempt such a thing by covering her skin with clothes and make-up, wearing sunglasses, a wig, etc.
I'm pretty close to being ready. I just need to choose my contacts and write the background story. I did not see anything in the source material on the Southwest that involves Native Americans like the Navajo. Would it be okay to write some creative ideas of what they might be doing in 2090, perhaps being a gang presence with an agenda involving maintaining autonomy from the powers of the area and perhaps establishing a homeland zone?
Spaz can have my spot. As much as I want to play this game, I don't have time to read up at this time, so probably couldn't do it justice. I'll finish my character when I get time, so if there is a drop maybe I can jump in.
I think my character is ready to run. Let me know if anything needs to change. I'm open to discussing possible connections to other PCs. Looking forward to playing.
@1dromeda: Looks excellent. I'm going to rule with regards to engrams that you have 5 AMS worth loaded currently and 5 AMS of engrams in "reserve". I'm still looking into rules and if you can just freely store more, but I'd rather not have you start the campaign with every engram below a certain level. Might be a kneejerk reaction on my part but it feels like too much, even if you can create them all given enough time.
You can definitely walk around freely without needing a disguise. That said the ability to disguise yourself in situations where it might come in handy is definitely a solid idea. :)
@Scranford: Sorry to hear that. No worries, and thanks for being upfront with me about not having time. I'll send Spaz a PM :)
The following is from David Jarvis' example of hacking rules (see link above).
Let’s say your character only has the base 4 AMS. She was running a +1 Hacking Skill Specialization engram (1 AMS), a +1 Investigation skill specialization engram (1 AMS) and a rating 2 Stealth Module (2 AMS).
She has the following engrams stored on her TAP: A rating 2 Lethal Attack Module (2 AMS), a rating 1 Neural Armor engram (1 AMS), and a +2 Hyper Combat skill specialization engram (2 AMS).
Note: We don’t bother dealing with Storage Memory, that’s too much bean counting. Just assume your character can store as many engrams as she wants.
The five AMS in place and five in reserve is a fair limit for starting out.
Getting there, working on background etc. Got attributes, skills, and gear done. Should be finished tomorrow....
Alright, everybody should have received a PM from me with pre-game info (except you Spaz, since I don't have a character sheet from you yet). I'll get the discussion thread up in a couple hours with some extra reminders and go over everybody's sheets so we can start the campaign in a couple of days. :)
ETA: Whoops, missed you Ghiv. Your message is on my home computer, I'll send it out in a couple hours when I'm off work.
Here my ( Spazmodeus) profile....cruchy bits are mostly done, just figuring out what to do with second advance.
Background is started...will finish this evening.
Also realized my formatting is atrocious...cant fix on my phone
Got it.
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@N30N: Hi there!
I'm confused by your sheet (I peeked because I wanted to see what cyberwear you got. Nice selections!), but I think I can save you some points. =)
1) We're using the Athletics alternate rules. The skills of Climbing and Swimming have been combined into one skill of Athletics, and Climbing is now a specialization of it. Hence you can now have "Athletics d4 (Climbing). =)
2) I think you're short-changing youself in the specializations. A Spec is one point, and applies to the base skill. It is not a different skill in itself.
Hence you can have:
Fighting d6
--(martial arts)
--(blades)
And both MA and Blades are at d6. Same thing with Shooting. =)
Thanks for the pointers Alanna!
One other note: Marked or Unmarked is a racial hindrance. As such, you'll need to take an additional Major hindrance (at least, assuming you want those hindrance points ;) )
The discussion thread is now live. Everybody should have gotten their PM from me as GM Ten-Speed. Feel free to reply to it if you'd like any clarification or if you'd like any in-character reaction/preparation before the gameplay thread launches.
K. All done, might re-visit augments, gear .
Need to flesh out contacts and minor enemy a bit.
Name : Kitsune
Race : Hybrid (fox)
"Class" : Cybermonk
Agility : d8 (race+1)
Smarts : d4 (0)
Spirit : d8 (2)
Strength : d8 (1+advancement)
Vigor : d8 (1+Edge)
Skills :
Cybermastery : d8
...Boost Trait
...Deflection
Fighting : d8
...Katana
...Martial Artist
Healing : d4
...First Aid
Notice : d6
...Visual
Stealth : d8
...Sneaking
Throwing : d8
...Shuriken
+2 more points
Charisma : +0
Pace : 10
Toughness : 6 -1(race) + 2(Subdermal Armor) + 3(ED Entourage Suit) = 10
EMP Toughness : 2 (EMP Shield, Basic)
Strain : 7/8
Street Cred : 2
Parry : 6 + 1(Wireless Reflexes) = 7
Encumbrance : 40
Hindrances :
Giri (minor)
Code of Honor (major)
+1 more minor
Edges :
AB/Cybermonk
Martial Artist
Filthy Rich
Quick Draw (advancement)
TAP :
Firewall = 4 + 3(T-APP Firewall 4D) = 7
#AMS = 4
Neural Tougness = 5 + 3(upgrade) = 8
Range = 8 (2x Smarts upgrade)
AMS's :
Babylon - Smarts roll to communicate
Firewall 4D - +3 to TAP Neural Toughness
Multitasker - -1 to MAP's
Range Finder/Target Acquisition - -1 Range penalty
Cyberwear :
EMP Shield, Basic - +2 Armor vs. EMP
Subdermal Armor, Adv - +2 Armor
Wireless Reflexes I - +1 Parry, -1 vs. Ranged
Infra/ultra optics (eyes) - Infravision
Night vision optics (eyes) - Low Light
Items :
ED Entourage Suit (+3 armor)
K-Tana (STR+d8+2, AP 4, HW)
I have yet to allocate 2 more Skill points, pick one more Minor Hindrance (and define the Giri), my Contacts, and purchase miscellaneous items (including transportation). Her occupation is running her software company (2 hours/day, remotely) which is why she's Filthy Rich.
Any comments/problems so far?
I look forward to seeing what the Cybermonk can do.
I think your toughness vs. EMP weapons is calculated like normal toughness except instead of adding armor you add any EMP shielding. So Kitsune's toughness vs. an EMP weapon is 2 + 4 (half vigor) + 2 (EMP Shield, Basic) = 8
By the by, I believe EMP weapons only do half damage and the damage is nonlethal unless the target is an android, bioroid, cyborg, or robot.
Actually, the book is kind of vague about "EMP Toughness". It's tough to search the entire book for "emp", as there's lots of "template"'s and "attempt"'s in there.
The closest thing I found is in the description of the one-and-only EMP weapon, the Sentinel Rock Cyclone EMP Gun : "Targets with electrical parts/implants (cyborgs, augmented humans, robots, etc.) suffer full damage. Armor does not protect, unless designed to shield against EMP attacks. Others suffer half non-lethal damage as it interferes with the nervous system."
The "armor does not protect" phrase does sound like your "EMP Toughness" is just your personal Toughness (2+Vigor/2), which only EMP Shielding can add to, if you have any.
However, Kitsune's personal Toughness is -1 for being an Agile hybrid. So, her "EMP Toughness" is 7.
Thanks!
My frustration with IZ2.0 being a very decentralized and disorganized book is slowly growing. :P
EMP toughness is your regular unarmored toughness + any armor designed specifically to shield you from EMP attacks.
People with augments (including Androids, Bioroids and Cyborgs by default) take full damage from EMP attacks. People without chrome take half-damage non-lethal. EMP automatically bipasses regular armor and ignores it completely.
As near as I can tell there is exactly one weapon in the game that actually does EMP damage. And there's a difference between shock damage, taser damage and EMP damage lkajsgl;kajsg;laksghghgh'but why though
My frustration with IZ2.0 being a very decentralized and disorganized book is slowly growing. :P
And their spelling is atrocious!
I think the decentralization and disorganization (heh - "D&D"!) is in general a SW trait - the core rulebook has combat actions spread all over, from page 27 to 103!
That's true--the main rulebook seems to at least organize things somewhat by how often the rules are used. Character creation into basic rules into powers into more esoteric rules into things like setting rules and options. IZ2.0 has a lot of content but it's just all over the damn place.