Talk:Shadowrun: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 23:00, 28 October 2010

New Storyline!

As we have discussed we are planning to start up a new Shadowrun storyline. Right now it looks like Brian is going to be the primary storyteller with Dan and I filling in where need be. (Similar to Grass Spiders) Not too much has been fleshed out so far, but we have a place to start. Looks like we'll be playing a small team of shadowrunners (probably not really shadowrunners by definition) that work for a part of a government body, most likely investigating all things paranormal. We expanded on some things beyond that, but I'll let Brian go from there.

I personally think the California Free State would be a cool place to play, though I'm pretty open to playing anywhere. (North America or otherwise) We could always open the SL to international paranormal events as well, mostly need to decide what government is hiring us for a central location. I found a Cal Free sourcebook for 2nd edition that could provide some additional info. It's a bit outdated, but that leaves a bit of extra room for us to expand how we'd like. The big changes seem to be the liberation of San Fransisco Bay Area from the JIS, Los Angeles defecting from Cal Free, and Southern Cal flooding due to epic earthquakes.... Semi-major but I think we can fill the gaps if need be. (Demonoid has a massive SR torrent, you can DL or I can distribute if people want to take a look.)

Didn't get much commitment from anyone as far as character creation goes, though it was obviously a bit early to be committing to a character idea. Wanted to know if anyone had any thoughts yet? I'm still planning to play a modified version of my character, Kumiko Nakamura. Obviously he won't be in the Yakuza, but the fundamental character that I like doesn't need to change much. Kumiko doesn't have a super well defined Shadowrun role or class and he is pretty adaptable. He builds in my head as a sort of Jack-of-all-trades and master of none type, but I can easily shade him in one direction depending on what the group has. He's going to have a pretty respectable Biotech Skill Group and Firearms Group based on the character concept, his logic should be pretty good and he's not much of a strength/power dude. Otherwise he can be adapted pretty well to help us out if we need additional combat support, some face skills, infilitration, or even a little hacking/rigging. I don't have him built as a mage of any sort at the moment, but if we think its going to be a magic heavy SL and most or all characters should be magic users, he'd build pretty well as an adept. Let me know what you guys were thinking and we'll go from there.

--FyreFly 19:33, 12 October 2010 (EDT)

I haven't completely fleshed out the group that the characters are employed by, but my line of thinking is that it's a division of the government that deals with Magic -- setting policy, enforcing laws, etc. The characters would be a small group that investigates the most mysterious or highest profile cases. I haven't thought of anything catchy to call it yet.

I also think CalFree is a good place. I picture this group's headquarters to be an urban setting -- San Francisco is appealing -- and there's plenty of interesting rural areas, including the disputed territory in northern California.

I have no idea what the CalFree government is like, so I need to do some reading.

An important question you should ask when creating your character: why is he working for this division? The hours are long, the work is dangerous, and the pay is sub-par. Is it a desire to serve and protect the public? Is it a fascination with the magic and technology the group deals with?

I'll start posting information on prominent NPCs, though I'll need at least a character concept from DK so I don't make someone that overlaps. Like we discussed, feel free to flesh out NPC contacts as well: the agent chained to a desk that collects information for you while you're doing field work, the street mage your boss doesn't know about that you get information from, etc.

It's a magic-based storyline but that doesn't mean Kumiko needs to be a mage. There will be a blend of magic and science/technology in the story.

Kirkland 20:47, 13 October 2010 (EDT)

I bought the 4th edition Street Magic book off Amazon, just waiting for it to ship.

Kirkland 15:41, 26 October 2010 (EDT)

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-Where did we archive all the all Shadowrun info? We should link that up in here at least so we don't lose that info and what not. --[[User:FyreFly|FyreFly]] 00:30, 20 November 2009 (EST)
+==New Storyline!==
+As we have discussed we are planning to start up a new Shadowrun storyline. Right now it looks like Brian is going to be the primary storyteller with Dan and I filling in where need be. (Similar to Grass Spiders) Not too much has been fleshed out so far, but we have a place to start. Looks like we'll be playing a small team of shadowrunners (probably not really shadowrunners by definition) that work for a part of a government body, most likely investigating all things paranormal. We expanded on some things beyond that, but I'll let Brian go from there.
-[[Archives: Shadowrun]] [[User:Kirkland|Kirkland]] 10:11, 20 November 2009 (EST)
+I personally think the California Free State would be a cool place to play, though I'm pretty open to playing anywhere. (North America or otherwise) We could always open the SL to international paranormal events as well, mostly need to decide what government is hiring us for a central location. I found a Cal Free sourcebook for 2nd edition that could provide some additional info. It's a bit outdated, but that leaves a bit of extra room for us to expand how we'd like. The big changes seem to be the liberation of San Fransisco Bay Area from the JIS, Los Angeles defecting from Cal Free, and Southern Cal flooding due to epic earthquakes.... Semi-major but I think we can fill the gaps if need be. (Demonoid has a massive SR torrent, you can DL or I can distribute if people want to take a look.)
-----
+Didn't get much commitment from anyone as far as character creation goes, though it was obviously a bit early to be committing to a character idea. Wanted to know if anyone had any thoughts yet? I'm still planning to play a modified version of my character, [[Kumiko Nakamura]]. Obviously he won't be in the Yakuza, but the fundamental character that I like doesn't need to change much. Kumiko doesn't have a super well defined Shadowrun role or class and he is pretty adaptable. He builds in my head as a sort of Jack-of-all-trades and master of none type, but I can easily shade him in one direction depending on what the group has. He's going to have a pretty respectable Biotech Skill Group and Firearms Group based on the character concept, his logic should be pretty good and he's not much of a strength/power dude. Otherwise he can be adapted pretty well to help us out if we need additional combat support, some face skills, infilitration, or even a little hacking/rigging. I don't have him built as a mage of any sort at the moment, but if we think its going to be a magic heavy SL and most or all characters should be magic users, he'd build pretty well as an adept. Let me know what you guys were thinking and we'll go from there.
-==Further Discussion==
+--[[User:FyreFly|FyreFly]] 19:33, 12 October 2010 (EDT)
-So far we have decided on the following:
-*The primary setting is the the Boston/New York area of UCAS.
-*Characters will have pre-existing, strong relationships (i.e. Loyalty 6)
-*DK is a former corporate enforcer for BK
-What type of corporation are we leaving? I'd like to get this chosen so I can start writing some backstory for my character. But I can't unilaterally decide, as it will have storyline implications. Some ideas:
-*Technomancer research
-*Weather (i.e. global warming, weather control)
-*Space-faring
-Also we need to work on the character relationships
-*Perhaps Melvin is someone's cousin?
-*BK was a father figure or role model for DK and took him in when DK decided to go corporate. They have completed many missions together (for the corp).
-[[User:Kirkland|Kirkland]] 13:27, 9 November 2009 (EST)
-==Idea Thread==
+I haven't completely fleshed out the group that the characters are employed by, but my line of thinking is that it's a division of the government that deals with Magic -- setting policy, enforcing laws, etc. The characters would be a small group that investigates the most mysterious or highest profile cases. I haven't thought of anything catchy to call it yet.
-===Idea 1===
-A continuation of [[Caught in the Middle]]'s basic plot, with new characters. The old Melvin can be used, or Dan can create a new character. A quick refresher on our previous shadowrun group: the group had a mission from an unknown Mr. Johnson to intercept a crate, which happened to contain 4 technomancers that were obviously being used for some sort of experiment. When the technomancers were woken, the wireless matrix signals were distrupted.
+I also think CalFree is a good place. I picture this group's headquarters to be an urban setting -- San Francisco is appealing -- and there's plenty of interesting rural areas, including the disputed territory in northern California.
-We pick up the story from the opposite angle. My character could be a middle-manager at generic AA or AAA corporation that was doing the technomancer research. Renraku was behind the hijacked shipment, stealing vital secrets. My character takes the blame for losing valuable secrets and is exiled from the company; and he knows too many secrets to be allowed to live. After all, he's just a middle manager, he's not one of the cutting edge researchers on the project. He is after his former corp for screwing him over, and a little revenge against Renraku, for interfering in the first place, is probably in order.
+I have no idea what the CalFree government is like, so I need to do some reading.
-A long term motivation would be to start his own company and harness the power of technomancy for use by all. It's an entirely new form of digital weaponry. Further research could yield clues on how to infuse the power in ordinary people.
+An important question you should ask when creating your character: why is he working for this division? The hours are long, the work is dangerous, and the pay is sub-par. Is it a desire to serve and protect the public? Is it a fascination with the magic and technology the group deals with?
-[[User:Kirkland|Kirkland]] 18:04, 3 November 2009 (EST)
+I'll start posting information on prominent NPCs, though I'll need at least a character concept from DK so I don't make someone that overlaps. Like we discussed, feel free to flesh out NPC contacts as well: the agent chained to a desk that collects information for you while you're doing field work, the street mage your boss doesn't know about that you get information from, etc.
-===Idea 2===
+It's a magic-based storyline but that doesn't mean Kumiko needs to be a mage. There will be a blend of magic and science/technology in the story.
-Come up with something new from scratch. Ok, this isn't really an idea, more like a poll. Where would you like to see the primary setting? I favor a storyline where other cities/regions make guest appearances, but obviously the storyline has to be anchored somewhere.
+[[User:Kirkland|Kirkland]] 20:47, 13 October 2010 (EDT)
-Some settings that pique my interest: The UCAS northeast corridor (Boston/New York/Philadelphia/FDC megacity), Chicago, and Imperial Japan. Other places that would have more of an awakened element nearby: Moscow/Eastern Europe, Toronto/Quebec, Denver, and Seattle/Salish-Shidhe.
+I bought the 4th edition Street Magic book off Amazon, just waiting for it to ship.
-Keep in mind, we have the sourcebooks for Asia and Europe as well, so those regions are thoroughly documented and can also be used.
+[[User:Kirkland|Kirkland]] 15:41, 26 October 2010 (EDT)
-[[User:Kirkland|Kirkland]] 18:04, 3 November 2009 (EST)
-===Idea 3===
-There is an entire 3E sourcebook (called System Failure) about the Matrix crash of 2064. It might be neat to play during that time period (using 4th edition game mechanics), either during or shortly after the crash.
-[[User:Kirkland|Kirkland]] 21:42, 4 November 2009 (EST)
-==Initial Discussion==
-Furthering our discussion from tonight, I would encourage everyone to check out the "Loose Alliances" source book. I only got a chance to glance through it, and I think it is a lot of fan content but it seems like good info that could help us out. There is a small write up on a ton of smaller organizations that are anywhere from loosely bound to tightly knit all working towards the same goal. (These range from religious, politics, racist, to anti-corp.) Thought it would be a good point of reference for people to look at while making characters, if people need the book I have it on pdf. --[[User:FyreFly|FyreFly]] 23:49, 29 October 2009 (EDT)
-A few points from our discussion tonight:
-*The group will need pre-existing cohesiveness, such as similar goals, pre-existing trust, or other pre-existing conditions that tie the characters together.
-*The storyline will primarily character-driven, based on the characters' personal objectives
-I liked the type of idea we discussed at the very end. Dan suggested a "revenge" campaign. For example, our characters take the fall for a corporate catastrophe of some kind (perhaps something immoral, such as genocide). The corporation blames a few bad apples (us) for something we weren't (entirely) responsible for. The group wants revenge on the corporation for throwing them to the wolves. They also want to clear their names. The group would have to deal with significant infamy, including a corporation, police, the general public, and who knows what else that is out to get them. I like this type of situation the best, though the others we discussed tonight are also good. Like we said, we really need DH's input before we can make a decision. [[User:Kirkland|Kirkland]] 00:19, 30 October 2009 (EDT)