I figured in honor of America, I'd better get off my ass and write more of the ongoing story featuring the legendary AMERICA-SAN (although he doesn't get much screen time in this run). Here's hoping that permasage isn't still a thing, otherwise this thread's gonna die in a jiffy, chummers.As per the usual, previous threads are here: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?searchall=shadowrun+storytimeStandard rules apply: this thread doubles as SHADOWRUN GENERAL. Let's keep Shadowrun alive on /tg/!And now, the story of...THE TROUT RUN.
>>19744246YESSSSSSSS
>>19744246Dervish was the first to growl his thoughts.“Oh, you got a lot of nerve, asking us to do that, Mr. Johns-“He was suddenly silenced by a jutting hand. His teammate, Bend, was reminding him of the etiquette of the Johnson meet; speaking out of tone was verboten. Especially with a high-class Johnson like the generically handsome, primly cut individual sitting across from them. Whichever megacorp he worked for, it wouldn’t do well to insult them by proxy.Bend glanced nervously towards Geppetto, the team face thus and de facto voice of reason. The team had always had a calm sort of understanding about this kind of thing, even since the days of TwoDee: the hacker was in charge in crisis situations, when having all the information at hand meant all the difference. Otherwise, all authority during…impasses went to the face or the mage. As Geppetto qualified for both of these roles, he was the immediately recognized team leader. Which was why it bothered Bend so much to see the wan Satanist wavering, especially this creature which he’d never seen hesitate even in the face of indescribable cruelty and butchery. Geppetto’s thin brow wrinkled with a mixture of emotions—disgust and contempt mixed with a sharp twinge of perverse humor. He could not help but choke up a strained laugh.
>>19744246My balls are soaked with anticipation!
>>19744276"team face thus and de facto voice of reason" should read "team face and thus de facto voice of reason," whoops.
>>19744276“Could you repeat that offer, Mr. Johnson?”Mr. Johnson, his face organized in a bland, surgical passivity, did indeed repeat his offer.“The job is to retrieve the man known as “Trout” from the Metroplex Prison—colloquially referred to as “the Tower” due to its distinctive shape—on Sixth and Spring. My employer seeks his audience.”Geppetto couldn’t help himself. His composure buckled.“By all that creeps and stings, Mr. Johnson, why?”“That is for my employer to know, and not for shadowrunners to guess at. My employer chose you as his first option because of two of your numbers’ considerable experience with the target. We contacted your replaced third, by the way—he merely laughed, addressed me as a ‘prank-calling cockbite,’ and blocked further communications.”Mr. Johnson adjusted his tie.“I suppose given light of extenuating circumstances I can show more leeway on what was initially supposed to be an intentionally small starter’s fee. An invitation to future work.”
>>19744306“What kind of leeway are we talking, Mr. Johnson?” Geppetto’s eyes twitched involuntarily as text scrolled across the screen of his contacts. He noticed Dervish and Bend blinking and reading, too. Wildcard had a keyboard and multiple AR windows up, and was hastily typing away.>HOLD ON I HAVE AN IDEAJohnson made note of the typing hacker, but turned back to Geppetto.“I’m prepared to offer a 30,000 sum with a 10,000 expense account. As that is already extraordinarily generous, I do not plan on being bartered far up from it.”That, of course, meant that he was quite open to an entire evening of barter in Johnson doublespeak. However, after a few seconds of scrolling, Geppetto found that the text read,>HURRY THINGS UP/ CONTACTING BRIANNA/REMEMBER HOW THERE WAS GOING TO BE AN OPPOSING RUN TO THIS ONE/ THEY’RE HAVING THEIR JOHNSON MEET RIGHT NOW TOO/ IF WE FINISH NOW WE CAN GET THEM BEFORE THEY EVEN START>WE CAN TURN THIS INTO EASY MONEY BY HITTING THEM RIGHT AFTER THE JOHNSON MEETGeppetto could not help but allow his fangs to slip through his lips, a malicious grin bubbling its way to the surface.
>>19744306Is this THE Trout?
>>19744345Indeed. Previous thread ended with the phrase "Jo Sekigahara, codename Trout."Incidentally I've never uploaded any of my drawings of Trout. I should rectify that at some point.
>>19744246Can it be? After all this time? And no Bubbles?!?
>>19744359My god. Bracing for more epic than usual from Shadowrun Storytime
>switching to mostly generic cyberpunk art now, realize I've been kind of an egoboo in the past just using SR Storytime official art and fanart>>19744331“I understand completely, Mr. Johnson. And in light of—as you put them—extenuating circumstances—I do believe that the sum will do quite nicely. However, my hacker has graciously informed me that we have another appointment, so if you could send him the rest of the intel via datachip?”Mr. Johnson cocked an eyebrow as he tapped away at his commlink, before inviting Wildcard to interface with it. Wildcard popped the plasticine port where his spine met his brain, trailing out the long, thin cable of his datajack.“Another appointment already? I feel almost slighted. But then I suppose that many shadowrunners are busy people. Do show better form in the future, Geppetto.”Geppetto made a curt little bow, showing deference to the Johnson, as Dervish and Bend stood to prep the car, suddenly over the tense precipice of the Johnson meet and thrust, quicker than they ever had been, into the job.“I apologize wholeheartedly, Mr. Johnson. I assure you that we have your best interests at heart.”
>>19744359TwoDee, are you in on the SR:R Kickstarter? Because I will run with you until my 'ware fails, my essence burns away, my drones no longer heed my commands, and I can no longer jack in.NOHOMO, and nofanboi. It's just hard to find a chummer what knows to check ammo counts, divvy even, and that there's a double-cross in every deal.
>>19744411Geppetto lead the team swiftly out of the club, buzzing with nervous energy. Geppetto got like this when there were murders to be done. Following him were Bend, resigned, Wildcard, detached, and Dervish, resolute.“Everyone suit up. Where’s the enemy Johnson meet located?”Wildcard gestured to a map of the city, pointing out a section of Tacoma’s tourist district.“Fancy—well, fancy as a Mexican restaurant can get anyway, on Pier 64. Downtown, but on the Tacoma side of things. Yak territory.”“What’s the drive?”“45 minutes.”Geppetto gave Wildcard a stern glare. Without bucking, Wildcard followed up,“I’ll make it in fifteen.”The team piled into Wildcard’s Hyundai, buckled their seatbelts, and the job was on.With the clever abuse of a few streetlight hacks, Wildcard had the team outside Maximillion’s Fine Aztec Cuisine in eight minutes and fifty-two seconds. Geppetto ran the plan over with Bend.“So, we don’t want to open up guns-blazing in the middle of the street, but we want them out of the picture. This job is on you and me, Bend. Right now, I need samples from all of them: hair, skin, blood, whatever you can nick. I’m going to do everything in my power to keep you unseen. And Dervish and Wildcard will be ready to go as backup if things turn ugly.”Geppetto gestured to Wildcard’s car, and the passenger-side window rolled down long enough to give him and Bend a glimpse of an armor-plated fist done up in red, white, and blue giving a thumbs-up sign. Bend nodded, but his expression was grim.“You’re going to use ritual magic, aren’t you?”Geppetto licked his lips.“Oh yes. And I’m going to savor every minute of it.”
FUCK YES, I GOT TO BLOW SHIT UP AND NOW SHADOWRUN STORYTIEM, BEST AMERICA DAY EVER!
>>19744464I'm a 60 dollar contributor. What can I say, I wanted the docwagon card. Speaking of DocWagon, with the campaign that gave birth to Shadowrun Storytime officially over as of a month ago, I can tell you that by the end of the story the team will have run-ins with:>DocWagon>The Sicilian Mafia>Universal Omnitech>Aztechnology>Ares (incl. Firewatch)>Horizon>Amazonian terrorists>The Ancients>Saeder-Krupp (incl. Drake Prime)>No less than five great dragons, directly and indirectly (IE: through minions or representatives)>Hell itself>More hapless chain restaurantsLook forward to it. For the finale, in particular, I hope to put out a call for drawfags and see if I can't get the whole thing illustrated, post by post, before I put in on /tg/.
>>19744468Bend frowned and furrowed his brow, but with a brief huff of air he put on his goggles, slinking towards an alleyway just off the restaurant. As he shed his overclothes—a hoodie and a pair of jeans—into his ruthenium-polymer-coated bag and activated his tacsuit, he remarked to Geppetto,“I’m doing this for the good of the mission. But don’t expect me to stand around while you’re doing the deed.”The rival team exited the restaurant soon enough. The first was a social infiltrator, female. She was human, and some manner of Asian, although her body was so statuesque it screamed of plastic surgery. In her blood red gown and AR shades, she practically wore her shadowrunning on her sleeve.With a flick of his monofilament knife, Bend pocketed a single lock of hair.“One target down. Looking like…four to go.”The rest of the team exited the double doors of the restaurant as a mass. One of them—a troll with a mana ebb that flowed around him, deflecting some of Bend’s awakened senses—could quite literally qualify as a “mass.” The next was a hermetic magician, done up in typical “wizard” fashion, wearing spectacles and a longcoat adorned with spellbooks and fetishes. Following him was the hacker, a geek in a trenchcoat with slicked-back black hair, big retro shades, and boots that looked like they belonged in a fetish club. He typed at a Shiawase commlink distractedly, looking up public documents on the Metroplex Prison. The final teammate, picking up the rear, was an orc gun adept. Her body radiated tense physical strength and incredible acrobatic ability, and her reedy muscles were taut against a tight tank-top. Her bent arm grasped absently, reflexively, at where a trigger would be, were a rifle slung over her shoulder.
Hey guys, not trying to derail, but just dropping a link to the one time I've played Shadowrun sober:http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/12161023/
Can someone explain why Ritual Magic is such a big deal, and why Bend is so antsy about it?Never ran the shadows, but this series makes me want to.
>>19744587Slowly, ritualistically, Bend unlinked the chain from his monofilament chainsaw. Stretching it and gauging its weight, he began a trot towards the clump of shadowrunners, the movements of a gymnast about to perform his routine.And perform he did. Bend pirouetted through the shadowrunners, chain taught in his fingers, in an instant grinding bone shavings off of one of the troll’s nerveless dermal deposits, slicing hair from the mage, hacker, and adept. As Bend gecko-gripped up the wall of the restaurant behind them, the adept felt absently at the back of her head, shuddered, but continued to walk. Bend growled into his subvocal mic,“What a senseless waste.”At the directions of Geppetto, the team soon found themselves in an abandoned municipal playground in one of the poorer factory-worker neighborhoods in Auburn. Musing and cooing to himself, Geppetto strode about the rusted playground equipment, tapping purposefully with his loafers.“What exactly is it we’re looking for Geppetto?”Dervish sat on a dented plastic bench, looking bored. He was out of his armor again, now back in his biking leathers and bandana. He noshed on a fast-food burger, having not had time to eat at the Johnson meet.“Company, my friend. Or a portal thereto.”Geppetto began kicking around the roots of an old tree near the sand pit, and something gave way. Brushing at the dirt with his foot, he uncovered what looked to be a capped manhole. Wildcard hazarded the question,“What kind of company are we talking, chummer?”
>>19744596No worries broski, all storytimes are welcome in Shadowrun Storytime.Incidentally, what's your crew been up to lately? I follow storytiem's threads, even drawfagged for the one, back before TwoDee became my perma-nick.>>19744668Ritual magic differs from normal spellcasting in three major ways:>You need a sample from the target>It can be cast from ANYWHERE, regardless of line of sight to target. You could kill a guy in Bolivia if you have enough of his toenail clippings>Multiple participants can cast the spell, allowing for some stupidly high force spells
>>19744780Huh. I wonder why more people don't do the same. It could be as simple as rooting through someone's trash to get enough stuff to make a remote magical crusher.
>>19744714Geppetto gestured for Dervish to help him with the manhole, and began lifting, although he quickly gave way to the strain and let Dervish do all the work for him.“Think about it. Shamanic lodges are set up all across the country for young spiritualists to learn the ways of their newfound talents. Theurges are led to the churches and temples of their gods, to hone their powers through faith. Hermetics go to college to study magic like proper little scientists. But how did I learn to do what I do? Haven’t you ever thought of that?”Bend retched a little. He’d seen this man levitate another metahuman into a nuclear spirit, slowly, excruciatingly, and consider it a perfect use of his magic later.“No, I can’t say I’ve thought of it. Ever.”“Well,” said Geppetto, gleefully, as he lowered his fancy loafers down onto a rusty rung, “you’re about find out anyway.”The rooms underground were surprisingly complex, a system of intricate stone-lined hallways carved with symbols of the obscene and depraved. There were crunches of bone underfoot, and the occasional scrap of a tiny shirt or dress. No one wanted to ruminate on why the playground above was abandoned.
>>19744843“See,” opined Geppetto, as he flicked on a flashlight (out of courtesy: he could see in the dark naturally), “the very nature of Black Magic is that it’s adversarial. It stands as the enemy to every other magical tradition. I mean, not in the way that the Bugs or the Toxics are—those are legitimate fucking MENACES, after all—but the point is that since we draw our focus on our power from all those storybook tales about boogeymen snatching children and enchantresses seducing good Christian husbands, well, it’s not like we can up and put a CHURCH OF EVERYTHING HORRIBLE AND BAD THAT STANDS AGAINST EVERYTHING YOU BELIEVE IN across from the nearest Mormon tabernacle, can we? It’s not against the law to be a black magician per se, but let’s just say that the law…frowns on our more colorful rituals. Ah! Here we are!”Geppetto knocked on a slate wall, and announced,“I am called Legion, for we are Many.”The wall began to grind back, and greenish light spilled into the corridor from behind it.“Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” grumbled Wildcard, “It’s like a bloodly Lovecraft novel.”As Geppetto strode into a charnel house filled with swinging, iron-wrought cages, under the watchful eyes of a dozen ornately masked, black-robed cultists, he giggled,“Isn’t it just?”Bend excused himself at this point, and Wildcard commented that, as he was an expert in many fields but ritual magic was not one of them, he would rendezvous with Bend to peruse the Johnson’s information and plan the next phase of the mission. Dervish stayed on with Geppetto as a guard, although he made sure to retrieve his automatic shotgun and America-San armor before he’d cross the threshold.
I am so hard right now
>>19744780Are....are you SIEGE?!Our crew hasn't played together since that epic game actually, STORYTIEM has been playing and running games, but the rest of us got caught up in real life. I did play Shadowrun as a guest last week with Saburo's group, in which I attempted to make someone's Adept become the world's first Adept Masseuse.I am going to be a player in Saburo's new Dark Sun 4e game. Thri-Kreen Swarm Druid, looking forward to it. If epic shit happens, more storytimes iwll be inbound
>>19744928Naw, I did the infamous chair drawing, from the story of Alphonse the sociopath 12-year-old.>>19744877Geppetto and Dervish were lead into a large, circular room, rent from the stone with magic to resemble some gothic nightmare temple. A very small cultist stepped forward and removed her mask. What at first appeared to be a pubescent human girl swiftly revealed its nature; as it grinned, its long, gleaming canines betrayed it as a vampire, stuck in a perpetual state of eerie teenage limbo.“And who is this that approaches my court?”Geppetto bowed deeply and floridly.“I am Geppetto of the Black Lodge, and Tartarus of the Merlyns. My service to our Lord is writ in soul and blood, and the Adversary lives within me. This is my…ghoul in the occult sense, my mortal servant.”Dervish gave Geppetto a look but knew better than to protest. The small vampire giggled with delight.“Aha, so we have ascertained your identity, Tartarus of the Merlyns and Geppetto of the Black Lodge,” she squealed, mocking his tone of voice, “but not your purpose.”“My purpose,” said Geppetto, producing four vials of hair and one of bone, “is sacrifice.”Although he opened his mouth to continue speaking, his words were drowned out by a unanimous cheering and clapping from the dozen cultists circled around him, and the countless shadowy, cruel spirits that wafted through the air, wandering half-manifested in a listless, desultory vogue.“You have not forgotten your ways, Geppetto and Tartarus,” beamed the vampire, her colorless face suddenly pink with orgiastic ecstasy. “The Black Lodge of Seattle welcomes you.”
>>19744897Gepetto and all those cultists most likely are too.
>>19744977“Dervish,” said Geppetto, giving Dervish an intense stare that was half commanding and half apologetic, “place the vials on the center altar and then stand back that we might do our work.”Dervish, trying to remain as detached as possible, approached the altar—carved to resemble two skeletal, grasping hands—and placed the vials upon it. He stepped back to the doorway and positioned himself as a guard would, a witness but not a participant. It was perverse, but honestly, seeing black magicians at work was more entertaining than the low-budget tridshows and alleyway bumfights that Dervish’s budget usually allowed for.As all of the cultists, Geppetto included (thereby raising the number of participants in the ritual to 13, a meaningful number), knelt around the altar, a portal of flame opened above it, revealing the mages’ targets. The enemy team sat around a table in one of their apartments, quietly discussing the job. The Black Lodge’s spirits jabbered and jeered, all summoned to their masters to resist the drain of the tremendous casting that was about to take place.“Burn them,” an infernal fire spirit resembling a flaming demon yelled to its master, more cheerful suggestion than command. “Bathe them in cinders until black bones remain!”“Drown them,” burbled a tentacled water spirit, in response. “Fill their lungs with water until it runs down their chins in rivulets!”Geppetto’s own guardian spirit, the immense black knight, hefted its machine gun and spat,“Kill them slowly, Master, that they might know terror before they die!”Geppetto put his hands up, a universal gesture for silence.“I believe that we will start with the troll. The highest-force powerbolt we can muster should suffice.”
>>19745068The little vampire cocked her head at Geppetto.“Why not a powerball? We could kill them all at once.”Geppetto shook his head, briefly resembling a scolding schoolteacher.“We want them to see each other die, one by one. Adversary exults in fear. Besides,” Geppetto clucked, with a harsh grin, “a powerball at that force would bring down the whole damn building, and we don’t need that kind of attention just yet.”Jackhammer the troll and Rosie the orc gun adept were having a minor disagreement with Booker the mage, Phreak the hacker, and Vixen the face. Jackhammer and Rosie were of the opinion that, using the access codes that the team had received from Mr. Sato (“A Japanese appellation similar to Johnson,” Booker had been quick to unhelpfully offer), the team should masquerade as prisoners or guards and then ambush the breakout team when they arrived to capture Trout. Phreak, Booker, and Vixen didn’t like to get their hands dirty, and instead had suggested keeping a perimeter around the Tower and the adjacent blocks, keeping a network of spirits and agents up to look out for suspicious behavior.The argument was swiftly and unsatisfactorily terminated when, with a noise not unlike a guillotine striking a watermelon, Jackhammer’s head popped with such a force that bits of his skull embedded in the opposite wall.The team had a brief moment of confusion, before Booker, limbs twitching violently, went for his gun.“Ritual magic! FUCK!”In a senseless panic, the rest of the team split for the garage while Booker, rooted under the effects of a ludicrously high-force body-puppeting spell, drew his sidearm, pressed it to the base of his chin and, eyes darting wildly in panic, involuntarily killed himself.
>>19745114holy FUCK
>>19745114Across the city, the vampire looked expectantly at Geppetto. The flaming demon behind her was panting with masochistic pleasure, absorbing her share of the spell’s ludicrous drain. Geppetto watched from the scrying circle as the gun bunny and the face piled into the back of the hacker’s Americar. The hacker pulled a datajack and hooked into the car, pulling out into the streets at high speed.“Two down out of three, Geppetto and Tartarus. What now?”“Let’s end it with a bang,” Geppetto drawled. “Wait until they hit a stoplight. Then, a fireball.”The fire demon shuddered happily at the acknowledgement.“Did we make it?” Phreak the hacker was tweaking, not paying attention to the road. “Fuck, man. Fuck! Who’s hitting us!?”“It’s the other running team,” said Vixen, shaken. “They got us first. I don’t know how they got DNA on Booker, though. Only Jackhammer’s registered.”“You think they got it up close and personal? You think someone got that close? What if they got all of us?”“That’s impossible,” responded Vixen, now irate. “No one’s that good. Right, Rosie?”Rosie the gun adept briefly thought about this proposition, and then put her head down as their hacker detonated like a block of C4.
>>19744567I wanted the card, but lacked the dosh. And what can I say, as much as selling blood for nuyen appeals to the aesthetic, I couldn't go through with it. Not so much a fear of needles, as a mutual dislike.Expect me to be all over your runs, and hunt for my runner, if you need something done on the quiet. Or the silent, for that matter.
>>19745205Rosie woke up outside of the car, sprawled across the pavement. Pedestrians gasped and pointed at her and something to her left. She rolled to catch a glimpse of what it was, and immediately regretted it, only in part because of the pain in her side. Vixen lay in two halves in the middle of the street, with a bloodied car door a few yards off that looked like it had gone clean through her. Phreak lay in scorched pieces all around the totaled car.Rosie couldn’t help but shed a few tears. These people were her running team; they weren’t exactly her friends, but damn it, she had fond memories of working with them. That is, until she didn’t have fond memories of anything anymore.“Finishing it with an Alter Memory spell,” hissed the vampire. “Delicious.”“It was a moment of inspiration,” smiled Geppetto, giving Dervish a glance.Not feeling especially social, Dervish silently turned to head topside.Mr. Johnson had given Bend and Wildcard some good shit. First and foremost were complete maps of the Tower, in addition to some limited mapping of the sewer system beneath; not enough to fully navigate by the sewer, but enough to recognize where it exited to Metroplex Prison facilities. There were also guard patrols and spider clock-in-times, which had a special significance since Johnson had managed to retrieve one of the spiders’ accessID and codes for Wildcard. Although they’d make sure to run it past Dervish and Geppetto, Wildcard and Bend began to formulate a plan.
>>19745229Mr. Johnson had given Bend and Wildcard some good shit. First and foremost were complete maps of the Tower, in addition to some limited mapping of the sewer system beneath; not enough to fully navigate by the sewer, but enough to recognize where it exited to Metroplex Prison facilities. There were also guard patrols and spider clock-in-times, which had a special significance since Johnson had managed to retrieve one of the spiders’ accessID and codes for Wildcard. Although they’d make sure to run it past Dervish and Geppetto, Wildcard and Bend began to formulate a plan.Wildcard would hack some public-access city planning nodes and try to get Bend a more comprehensive map of the sewers. From there, Bend would utilize his abilities as a contortionist (or, if necessary, his recently-acquired shapechange power) to squeeze up through a septic tank’s drone maintenance shaft that connected to the guards’ locker rooms, as it was the only bathroom that had direct line of travel to one of the spider nexi without passing through locked doors or sensor suites. Bend would then plug a satlink into the nexus, and Wildcard would backdoor into it under the stolen accessID to start unlocking doors leading Bend to Trout.When Bend and Wildcard put up a discussion channel on the team’s taclink and ran this plan by Dervish and Geppetto, Dervish was the first to point out a problem that Bend and Wildcard didn’t have familiarity with:“This implies that Trout possesses the capability to follow your orders and sneak out of prison with the same degree of professional competence as you, Bend.”“Well, he’s a professional infiltrator. I’ve read his dossier. I expect him to keep up.”Wildcard turned the volume down on the channel as Dervish and Geppetto got all of their laughs out.
Who hurt you, Geppetto? Who hurt you?
>>19745269>“Well, he’s a professional infiltrator. I’ve read his dossier. I expect him to keep up.”
>>19745229That... was certainly a thing.
>>19745229jesus fucking christ, Geppetto is a stone cold mother fucker
>>19745269“Okay,” said Bend, miffed, “so he screams his presence to the world, apparently. Well, it’s not like we have a way to control his every action and force him to be sneaky.”Dervish thought for a moment.“Hey, Geppetto, didn’t you use your ritual magic to force that guy to off himself?”“Yeah,” said the black mage, “but I’d need a sample of his—oh. Oh shit.”THIRTY MINUTES LATERhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIb43Eix8mw, if you will.What was once TwoDee’s apartment building as of early 2072 was now missing about a quarter of its prior mass. Judging by the dilapidated chemistry equipment interspersed with the rubble, a Cram lab had probably exploded during a bust. Not letting the material go to waste, someone had used a girder to prop up a section of billboard in the gap, before spray-painting it to read “HOLLOWEENTOWN.” Clown-painted thugs wearing predominantly orange and black drifted around the building and the blocks surrounding it, swigging malt liquor, comparing firearms, and talking shit about rival gangs.“Trout’s blood?”Doctor Laughsalot, the ghetto-as-fuck Halloweener street doc, rubbed at the juggalo greasepaint around his eyes. The dilapidated once-a-condominium thumped with the sounds of horrorcore music and gunfire.“Of course I have Trout’s blood. He was so far in debt for all the bullet removals that I just started taking transfusions as payment. Not that his fucking AB positive helps much.”Geppetto slammed his hands down on Laughsalot’s desk, a vatgrown wood model that might have been classy once upon a time, before it was bloodstained and full of holes.“WE WILL TAKE ALL HIS BLOOD.”
>>19745352>WE WILL TAKE ALL HIS BLOOD
>>19745269I can certainly see what you meant about Gepetto's player "flipping a switch" as you phrased it in a previous storytime. I really love how that was thought up by a christian.
>>19745352Laughsalot gave Geppetto his best skeptical grimace as he began sorting through a stack of coolers.“You guys aren’t doing anything stupid, are you?”“Who, us?” Dervish grinned idiotically. “What gave you that idea?”ANOTHER 30 MINUTES LATERThe team convened outside of the Metroplex prison to review their plan. Wildcard ran through the details:“Okay, Bend? I’ve got the sewers beneath the prison mapped out. Since they keep cameras fixed on most of the nearby sewer entrances, you’re going to be entering about a mile out, and walk most of the way there. From there, our prior plan applies; if you can’t contort enough to make it through on your own, don’t hesitate to turn into an animal of some kind. You do have that ability, yes?”Bend donned his goggles and smiled.“Yeah. Just picked up shape-changing before this job.”Wildcard nodded appreciatively and continued.“Good, good. You’ll pop up through the septic tank, use a water spirit to wash off if you need to, plug me into the nexus so that I can open the doors. From there, Geppetto hits Trout with a control thoughts, and we get the ball rolling.”Dervish nodded from the back seat of the car, inspecting his shotgun to make sure that it was clean.“Okay. What am I doing?”“You’ll be with Geppetto. Since the plan hinges on him ritually casting a powerful spell, he’ll need the extra security.”“Roger.”“Any more questions, anyone?”Bend, Geppetto, and Dervish all shook their heads with noncommittal grunts.“Ducky. Let’s move out!”
>>19745409Bend was dropped off at the nearest non-secured sewer entrance. In full stealth gear, he hefted his taser, activated the nightvision on his goggles, turned on his cloak, and dropped down into the darkness below. His goggles displayed an AR feed from Wildcard, a map of the sewers.What they failed to account for were the den of HMHVV-infected goblins he’d dropped into. Four stunted little men with grotesque, partially-translucent skin hissed and recoiled, raising primitive melee weapons to defend themselves.“I smell elf flesh,” growled one of them.Bend gulped, but stood strong. Mostly because he had the Commanding Voice adept power.“STAY AWAY,” he demanded.The goblins blinked, but advanced.“STOP.”No dice.“DON’T HURT ME.”One of the goblins licked its lips.A little disappointed in himself, Bend proceeded to do the reasonable thing and book it like a motherfucker, goblins in tow. Not helping anything, he entered a no-Matrix zone in the sewers and promptly lost his map. Bend abandoned all pretense of stealth, spamming his Commanding Voice with the hopes that eventually one of them would fail.“PLEASE STOP.”“STOP PLEASE.”“STOP CHASING ME.”“I’M NOT DELICIOUS.”Realizing that telling them to do things that were directly against their nature was probably the problem, Bend opted for another tactic.“COULD ANY OF YOU TELL ME WHICH WAY TO THE METROPLEX PRISON?”One of the pursuing goblins screeched,“ABOUT THREE BLOCKS SOUTH AND THEN TAKE A LEFT, ELFMEAT.”“OKAY THANKS.”
>>19744714>noshedJEWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
>>19745450Just raised in Hollywood, friendo.>>19745435The goblins fell behind a little, confused as to why they’d all suddenly felt compelled to give their delicious prey directions. Bend took this opportunity to pull ahead, turn a few corners, and disappear into the sewers again, before making his way—more cautiously this time—to the guards’ quarters septic tank. Ultimately, the pipe was a little too slim for Bend in his natural form, but a quick shapechange into a monkey later, and he was dragging his gear up into the guards’ quarters. Some days, being a MysAd really had perks.Bend found himself in a maintenance passage adjacent to the locker rooms, naked and covered in shit. With a wan gesture, his water spirit, a cheery old man in blue robes, appeared and hosed him down. Bend bowed in thanks, then put on his gear again. Slipping out into the lockers, Bend snuck past a few distracted guards, disappearing into the hallway. About halfway to the spider room, his commlink managed to sync up with Wildcard again.“…Bend!? Bend, you’re running late! The entire team’s been waiting on you, what happened?”“We’ll talk about that after the job,” responded Bend, over his subvocal mic. “No sense in running even later.”Ducking into the spider room, Bend smiled at the oblivious spider, who had his feet up on the nexus, sipping a soykaf and reading an e-mag. He activated the ruthenium polymer coating on the team’s custom satlink (an expensive little toy), and plugged it in to one of the nexus’ dataports.
>>19745435I've always wondered why she's putting those prosthetic breasts on her face. Silly female, those are breasts, they go on your chest, they are too small for you!
>>19745475“I’m in,” said Wildcard. “Geppetto, you’re up to bat.”Crouched in an alleyway a few blocks away, with Dervish at his side holding four blood packs full of Trout-blood, Geppetto drew a magic circle on the pavement.“Roger that Wildcard. Keep an eye out for our boy.”Jo Sekigahara wondered why he was walking out of his cell. He also wondered why his cell door was open. It seemed counter-intuitive, considering it was well past lights-out and this time was normally reserved for attempting to sleep with his ass to the wall. There was also the whole legs moving without him telling them to thing. That was a little weird.He walked across the prison yard and found that one of the gates was open, the one leading to the guards’ quarters. He was a little perturbed at this development. He didn’t want to get beaten up.As he wandered past the guards in the hallway, he began to wonder if he was invisible. He tried to look down to see if he was but his neck wouldn’t respond.Eventually he found himself in a maintenance hallway above a septic tank drone maintenance port that was far too small for him. Was he going to escape? He wasn’t quite sure, but he was fairly certain that it was part of some master plan that he’d come up with earlier, because he was awesome. Although he didn’t remember ever talking to the elf standing across from him.
>>19745511Bend took a few moments to blink at zombie-Trout, who was staring at him very intensely, wavering back and forth and drooling a little. His commlink vibrated and he answered the call.“Hi, Sean!”“Oh…hi, Emily. I’m working right now.”“Oh!” Faux-African folk music sounded loudly over Emily’s end of the conversation. She was watching a nature documentary. “So you don’t have time to talk?”“No, I’m afraid,” said Bend, looking at Trout and then looking back to the sewage port that was way, way too small for him. “I’m kind of in the middle of a…logistical problem.”“Well, I don’t want to bother you while you’re at work, but I wanted to know if you’d be free to go to the movies this weekend? That new indie flick is coming out.”“Yeah, that’d be great!” Bend thought for a moment. “Hey, you switched your major to veterinary science, right?”It took Emily a few moments to respond.“Uh…yeah?”“Do you happen to know of any large, passive rodents that might be able to fit in an…I don’t know, like a one and a half foot wide tunnel in a squeeze?”Emily didn’t respond for another fifteen seconds.“Um…a capybara?”“That’s great, thanks. I gotta run now, but I’ll see you this weekend!”“See you this weekend!”As Emily hung up, Bend turned to Trout with a wicked grin.
>hitting the end of my notes, gonna have to write from scratch after this post>>19745528Wildcard waited nervously at the sewer entrance, seeing the searchlights turn on, one by one. The Tower had caught on to their missing man, and he had no doubt that Trout was chipped. He tapped a hasty message to Mr. Johnson:SHOULD HAVE TARGET VERY SOON/WHERE DROP OFF?Mr. Johnson responded with a set of coordinates:AUBURN INDUSTRIAL PARK, WE’LL HAVE MEN WAITINGThere was a “whumpf” on the hood of Wildcard’s Super Getaway Car as Bend leapt on top of the car, covered in shit, carrying a very confused capybara (also covered in shit), and being chased by goblins. Wildcard opened the passenger-side door and Bend, stumbling like a developmentally-disabled Dukes of Hazzard tribute act, hucked the capybara into the back before rolling into his seat.“Drive!”As Wildcard floored it and peeled out into the city streets, Bend hastily contorted backwards to start buckling the squirming, shit-covered capybara into the center back seat.“BEND,” yelled Wildcard, as two police interceptors pulled into pursuit.“WHAT,” Bend yelled back, over the roar of engines.“WHY IS THERE A GIANT GUINEA PIG TRACKING HUMAN FECES ALL OVER MY PRISTINE CAR, BEND?”“IT’S A CAPYBARA, NOT A GUINEA PIG.”“WHY IS TROUT A CAPYBARA, BEND?”“LONG STORY.”“I’LL TAKE YOUR WORD ON IT.”
>>19745475>Just raised in Hollywood, friendo.I didn't mean it as a bad thing, I just thought I'd figured out where you learned to write so well.Everyone knows Jews can use their Jew magic to improve their storytelling ability.
>>19745552Swiftly accelerating into the triple digits and finding a nice modest speed at somewhere around 150 miles per hour, Wildcard tore onto the freeway and began effortlessly weaving around commuters as a third interceptor and a flying drone joined the fray.“God damn, this has got to be the most wanted chinchilla in all of North America,” Wildcard noted over the subvocals. “Dervish, Geppetto, did you get the rendezvous coordinates?”“It’s a capybara,” clarified Bend, “Native to South America.”Dervish asked, confused, over the subvocals, as he and Geppetto mounted his bike,“What did you do with Trout?”“Long story,” said Wildcard, “meet in Auburn.”Hauling ass through Downtown, Wildcard intentionally routed through corp territories, ducking through the neighborhoods of the SCIRE, the Aztec Pyramid, and the Ares Tower to force Lone Star to take less optimal routes. Hastily-deployed security teams just complicated the chase, as by the time Wildcard was noticed his car was already a mile away, cycling its revolving license plate to invalidate security footage.Waiting in the parking lot of the industrial park in Auburn was a black SUV, with two men in black coats flanking either end of the vehicle. Both had the obvious bulges of small-caliber automatic weaponry on their persons.
>>19745553/pol/ is leaking. Again. Goddamnit, wheres the duct tape...
>>19745615No! I don't want to go back!It's the goddamn Abyss there. Nothing but trolls trolling trolls.
>>19745672No John. You are the troll.And then John was a zombie.
>>19745579Wildcard's black Hyundai peeled into the parking lot at high speed, spinning to a stop by the SUV. The two men in black looked on, nonplussed, as Wildcard and Bend emerged. They were slightly less nonplussed when Bend opened the back door and produced the world's largest land rodent, covered in shit."We've got the target!"Wildcard held the rancid capybara in front of the two agents. It made a squeal of discomfort. There was a brief pause, before one of the men in black stated the obvious."...That's a capybara.""A capybara covered in shit," noted the other, helpfully.Wildcard looked down at the shit-covered capybara, suddenly reminded that this was not normal procedure for extractions. He waggled the capybara in Bend's general direction, unintentionally splashing poo all over the hoods of nearby cars."Bend. Fix this please."With a thought, Bend dismissed the shapechange effect. Wildcard loosed a cry of dismay and terror, as he was now holding aloft a grown Japanese man, buck-ass naked and still covered in a thick film of human excrement. Dropping Trout, who stumbled awkwardly and faceplanted on the pavement, Wildcard fell over backwards. He made a mental note to burn the suit he was wearing.One of the men in black took off his AR shades, finally dropping all pretenses of imposing mysteriousness."Mother of God. Could you...could you wash him off, or something?"Bend nodded."My pleasure."The water spirit from earlier materialized and, with a WHARGLBLARGHL noise, Trout was launched across the hood of the SUV by a horizontal geyser.
God damnit, 2D, it is 4 AM and I was gonna go to bed since I really shouldn't be staying up all day any more.and now this?Oh well. Time to f5 like a motherfucker.And see if I can't get into any shadowrun games by watching this thread like a hawk.
>>19745689>at work>Manager and a board member behind me>Trying not to collapse into a laughing fitGoddammit
>>19745689Wildcard stood up, trying desperately to brush turds off his blazer. His efforts were in vain."So are you gentlemen able to call the cop corps off on this one? Because that former-capybara was hot as a volcano out there, and I don't relish being hunted down for it."MIB #1 shook his head while MIB #2 strolled behind the SUV to retrieve the stunned convict."We'll handle it from here. Lay low for a day or two, and we'll have it all sorted out.""Good to hear," said Wildcard, reaching out for the 30k credstick that MIB #1 was producing from his coat. Briefly jacking it into his commlink to check that the money was good, he then turned to Bend. "As for you, ya nonce, there'll be hell to pay for shitting up my car. Quite literally shitting up my car, in fact."Wildcard settled into the driver's seat, although Bend didn't get in with him. Instead, a kindly-looking monk with flowing blue robes sat in Bend's seat, and gave him a little bow. Wildcard eyed the manifested water spirit suspiciously."Bend, what are you doing?""Cleaning up my mess. Hold still.""Wait hold on a--WHARGLBLARGHLWHARGL."And that was how, as the two agents pulled away with Trout, Wildcard learned what it was like to have a car wash INSIDE his car.SHADOWRUN STORYTIME 14/END
>>19745822>And that was how, as the two agents pulled away with Trout, Wildcard learned what it was like to have a car wash INSIDE his car.
>>19745822I need to take my girlfriend down to campus early in the morning tomorrow, so I'm going to call it for tonight, given that it's late as tits. I've got a mostly free day tomorrow, though, so if the thread's still up when I get back, you can bet I'm going to continue on to the next run!As per the usual, until I wake up, this thread is now SHADOWRUN STORYTIME COMMENTARY AND SHADOWRUN GENERAL. Hope to see some good discussion!
Yessssss, brilliant end, 2D. Can't wait for more.Also.Anyone recruiting for an SR4 game? IDeally for two people? ME and a friend would be REALLY interested in getting into a game.
Ah, man. It's like a heavily expanded three stooges act. Bueno.
>See Shadowrun Storytime>mfw
>>19745858you are a god among men
Oh, how I waited fr a new Shadowrun Storytime!To show my enthusiasm, here's fanart of everyone's favourite cyberzombie!
My first Shadowrun Storytime that I got to see go up bit by bit, I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Also, Considering the natural moniker of this also being a shadowrun general thread, I've got to ask. What are some of the best augments to take during character creation for a unarmed and Automatics focused Street Sammy?
2D, you've outdone yourself once again. Not only was gepetto's background suitably awesome (and explained a lot about him and his magic), the breakout must be the most hillarious thing i've seen here so far. The mental image of a modern ninja covered in shit, carrying a rather pertubed capibara, also covered in shit, is going to keep me giggling for days.anyways, back to the thread.>>19747041bone reinforcement (eiter cyber or bio) is always good, since it improves both your body rating and unarmed damage. initiative passes are also a must. if you plan on kicking your enemy to death, invest in some raptor cyberlegs (augmentation splatbook). they improve all athletics test (running, jumping, climbing and gymnastics dodge) and your kicking power by a fair amount. Plus, you can uprgade them with strengt or agility enhancements to improve your accuracy and power.
>>19747041>>19747114Actually, a freind of mine played a character like that in our last campaign. It was a rather small human girl, with exelent agility and decent body and will, but barely any strenght. What she did have, however, was a pair of raptor legs with 8 STR, 8 AGI, a set of cyberspurs, cyberskates and climbing claws. She was twice as fast as normal, did mor damage than the troll with those kicks, and had a ridiculous mobility. She also hated stealth missions, as those legs were definitly "suspicious", so she had to switch them out
Awesome, Also; I'm going to be playing a changeling with the claws quality. Does the damage from claws stack with the Bone augs?
>>19747156That actually sounds really cool, Should note; my Ork Street Sammy's taking the changeling quality to basically be a horrible lizard looking monster(pic related} so he's definitely more of a "last resort" than a social butterfly. I'm also curious about the Initiative passes, I'm considering using a restricted gear perk to get Move By Wire 2 but I'm wondering if it would be better to get Wired Reflexes 3 instead, thoughts?
>>19747436Personally, I'd go with Wired Reflexes 3 myself. It's an extra pass, which is wonderful. Though, if you plan to use Skillsofts a lot (Handy things) the Wired Reflexes might be for you.
>>19747519The second one there should have been 'Move By Wire'
>>19747519I'm just a bit curious now, Lets say that I got the Move By Wire, which at rank 2 gives a bonus 2 points to dodge. If I got a rank 4 activesoft in dodge. Would that put my dodge at 6 without even applying any karma points?
>>19747750Yep
>>19747809Also to wrap things up on MbW, Are skillsofts interchangeable. Something you can take out and then pop another one in? or are they programmed directly into the system.Also, what would you recommend a street sammy take as a skillsoft (Forgive me if this sounds stupid in it's vagueness)
>>19747907SkillWIRES, which is what MbW gives you, are just a framework for using Activesofts, which are bought as individual programs for each skill. You can buy every freaking active/physical/combat skill in the game, if you want to (and have the money), but you're stuck at an upper limit of Skillwires Rating x 2 for how many Ratings worth of Activesofts you can run at once. Switching between different Activesofts is, IIRC, a simple action.As for what Activesofts you should buy: this depends on the character. Usually, I'd use Activesofts for things that I MIGHT have to use, some day, in a pinch, but don't plan to have as a focus of the character, so I wouldn't expect to ever want/need to get the rank above 4 or so. If you specialize in a specific weapon from the start, it might be worth it to take Activesofts for other weapon groups you don't expect to use regularly, but might have to at some point due to extenuating circumstances (weapons looted off bad guys, for example). It's really the same as asking "What skills should I take at chargen"; it's all dependent on the character you want to play.
>>19747907The downside of using softs is that you can't Edge things while using them. Even the specialist soft-user cyberware (forget what it's called) only lets you use Edge in specific ways. Since Edge is rather key for bailing you out and making things go smooth, you want to avoid using a soft for one of your core skills if at all possible.
>>19747996Still handy as hell for stuff like knowledge skills and skills you don't plan to use that often.You can have a character have a LOT more versatility though skillwires.
Question about spirits for any of you mage types. For bound spirits, do you have to state what services they owe at binding or just track how many? For that matter, is the max spirits active always 1 or do bound spirits not follow this rule?
Does anyone else find the SR rules terribly intimidating? I haven't dared to try playing ever since trying and failing to get a grip on the rules for an entire month.
>>19748115I did at first but if you take it in pieces its much easier to digest. Just read a section at a time and review it until you understand, then move on.
>>19748106You define the service when you give them an order. If you've seen Fate/Stay Night, think the command seals. You can tell a spirit to do something, and if it likes you or it's very minor ("Beer Me") it might just do it anyway. However you have a certain number of services you can MAKE it do something.Someone who the Spirits like (Long history of treating them well, doing favors in return, just nice guy) can have Spirits do a bit more before they say 'That's a service', though pushing them into combat is always a service, as is making them use their powers. On the other hand, someone who the spirits HATE will have trouble getting them to do anything without a service as they just go 'No, make me'You can have a number of constantly bound spirits equal to your Charisma.
>>19748115Try to find a friend who knows the System. It's a LOT easier to learn in-play in my experience than just looking at the rules until they sink in.
>>19748162Right, bound is based on charisma but how many can be actively used at a time? Always just one active, like unbound, or am I able to have multiple bound spirits actively taking orders?
>>19748198You can have as many in use as you have bound + Your one unbound. Fear the mage who has a heap of owed favors.Mind you, it's hard to keep spirits bound for a long time as they get SICK of listening to you and start pulling the 'Well, MAKE me' card after a bit.
>>19748584I was hoping that was the case. Thank you kind anon.
>>19748612No problem. I just hope I haven't given you any bad info. I'm only an occasional mage player.
/tg/, there any easy way to hide your spellcasting (aside from ritual spellcasting) in S4? I'm considering making a prankster/trickster-styled mage, and I don't want people to realize it's me when I Turn To Goo the traffic cop that's ushering high school kids across a busy intersection.
>>19748984You need 5-(Power) successes to spot a spell. So as long as you keep it less than 5 power, people can miss it. The less powerful, the more easy to miss.
>>19749049So basically keep things low and they'll stay on the down-low? Allright then.Now to just figure out what tradition and mentor spirit to take, because I can never remember if there's a 'trickster' or 'raven' mentor spirit or not.
>>19749070Both of them exist.
>>19749094Yeah, I found them. Trickster looks more like what I want. Possibly Black Magic as my tradition.I feel like my party might hate this character and force me to reroll for being bad at party cohesion, what with having to to roll to resist pranking, and their obsession with OPERATOR OPERATOR SHADOWRUN BLACK TRENCHCOAT AWW YEAH OPERATOR, but...
>>19749146Your character needs a pink mohawk.
>>19749321That's the plan, yeah. Pink mohawk and a ton of piercings.Piercings don't reduce essence as long as they're not cyberware piercings, right? If I get a peg leg that's a no-no, but a bunch of studs 'n' chains is fine?
>>19749146All depends on your GM. Mine laughed maniacally when I told him I took trickster.
>>19749372Yeah, that's more than fine.
I am now awake. I don't have any more notes prepared, so it will be slow going, but if you guys can wait another few hours, I can pick up right where I left off.>>19746428AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
>>19749639Breaking my f5 key as we speak, sirrah!
BUBBLES IS HERECONTINUE, TWODEE
>>19749647Emphasis on "another few hours," remember. Gotta eat breakfast, drive my girlfriend back down to campus, et cetera.>>19749146If you take Black Magic, this won't be silly so much as TERRIFYING. The definition of "prank"...expands a little bit for black magicians.>pic very fucking related
>>19749747Well yes. But my fellow players are very OPERATOR OPERATOR. None of are playing adepts--none of them are even playing mages, and I don't think they've even read the rules for them.I'm kinda being passive-agressive, I guess, about their silly OPERATOR OPERATOR tendencies, but I really just want to fuck with them on a level that I rarely get to do.
>>19749738-AAAAAUGH
>>19749738No Shadowrun Storytime will be free of Bubbles, will it?
>>19749825NEVER
Jesus, what a shitty Mary Sue fan-wank storytime. I only got halfway through it before I vomited a little and had to post my revulsion.
>>1974986210/10, collapsed into a heap of rage with volcanoes erupting all over my room.
>>19749862Man, I stopped reading these things around the 4th thread because I wasn't interested in Shadowrun enough to enjoy the storytimes after that guy left/became better. I'm going to archive binge all of them just to spite you.
>>19749146Fuck them. Use your illusion bonus to become the laser orgy dragon unicorn light show you were meant to be. If they need magic and haven't read the rules then they deserve every dead crow masked to look like a burger that happens.
>>19750073Oh god why did I stop reading this is fucking awesome and hilarious.
>>19750452Hahah, yes. That image inspires me.I will play Elton John, done via a trickster-archetype Black Magician with to much time on his hands and to few morals in the brainpan.
I've heard mentioned that with the right programs and a good Agent program to automate everything, everyone can have a half-decent hacker in their back pocket. Against a real hacker, you're fucked, but for what it is, it's way better than nothing. Is anyone able to elaborate on this?
>>19749862You have to understand that it's very hard to avoid "fan-wank" when I am retelling a story of a campaign that I played. I can't exactly make up an entirely different run just because in the course of playing a given run we happened to have a lot of callbacks to contacts from earlier in the campaign.This is assuming, of course, that you're not a troll and apparently have legitimate grievance with my writing style.>>19750569What specifically prompted that reaction, chummer? I'm curious.>>19750908Essentially, an Agent is a "dumb" hacker (in the sense that without Fuzzy Logic/Adaptability it can't make choices for itself or react to outside factors) that you can put on a commlink. It uses its rating plus the rating of the programs it's equipped with, so a rating 6 agent with a rating 6 exploit program actually has an extremely respectable dice pool of 12. Remember that you can only load an agent with its rating in programs--my usual loadout for hacking is exploit, scan, stealth (with mute functionality) and spoof (for rating 4) or exploit, scan, stealth, spoof, analyze, and adaptability (for rating 6). My combat loadout is armor, attack, black hammer, and medic for rating four, or armor, attack, black hammer, blackout, medic, and adaptability for rating 6.Wildcard himself uses an EVO mobile terminus nexus with the response and signal souped up a bit, loaded up with 9 rating 4 agents and 1 rating 6 agent, accrued over the course of multiple pay-outs. Although he does most of the hacking himself, they make monitoring multiple feeds way easier, and the assist dice he gets to his matrix actions are truly outrageous.
>>19751245Bend's introduction and 2D's reaction to him and the Kitsune made me laugh the hardest. Thus far Dervish as AMERIKA SAN is my favourite character.
>>19751278New favourite moment: “MOTHERFUCKING GUN-MAKING NANOBOTS.”
>>19751245So you set a list of tasks for an Agent, and it goes off any does that work unerringly? Do you have to manually stop an Agent if something comes up? How well does an Agent perform on any given task? I get that being a hacker on top of using agents makes for ridiculous dice pools, but is an agent by itself anything to slouch at?I ask because a character concept I had kicking around was a human melee adept that doubles as a face who works as an investigator/detective of sorts, so she's rather self-sufficient, at least before she joins a team. I was wondering how well a sufficiently powerful commlink with a suite of programs and agent(s) would make up for her not actually being a hacker.
>>19751494If the target doesn't have an active spider? It will do. If they do? Not so much. So it's quite good against a lot of targets.
Alright, I do have some other stuff to do today, but I want to at least continue the story up through the Johnson meet for this upcoming mission. It was a...colorful Johnson meet, and the team's first introduction to the BIG leagues (on equal terms; obviously throughout the Two-Times run Ares didn't think very highly of them).>>19745822SHADOWRUN STORYTIME 14.5/ BEGINIt was another day and a half before Mr. Johnson contacted the team. Wildcard spent most of his off day online in his dingy apartment, buying up secondhand agents for his nexus with his share of the dough. On a whim, he called up his old partner Belfast, to see if he was in town. The Irish bank robber was in the CAS when Wildcard called, but he promised that they could hang after a "big job I've got planned in the Tir 'round February."Geppetto chilled with his Black Lodge buddies until he woke up from Adversary-mode naked next to the teenage vampire, whereupon he decided that he valued his independence and snuck back to Tacoma.Bend went to the movies with Emily, but found himself still a little conflicted about their age difference and the "free love" nature of their relationship. He decided to put this out of his mind by turning into a seagull and going out for a fly, relishing the last Autumn winds of September.Dervish sparred with Sensei, having not had much time to hang around their barrens shithole of late. Sensei had recently received a very irate call from Mariella, so he was in a foul mood, perfect for fighting.Everyone was (generally) in good spirits when the team got the call from Johnson."Dante's Inferno, gentlemen. I'll see you at 10 PM."About a minute later, Geppetto sent out a group message that was only one word long:>what
I think we can all agree on the funniest moment so far>One of the maids knocked on the door.>"Sir, do you require--">2D: "OINK OINK OINK, MMMM YOKO, HOW DOES MY BEASTMAN DICK FEEL!?">The maid stopped knocking.>Bend: "Why...why would you leave comms on?">Geppetto: "WHHYYYYYY">Dervish: "MY BRAAAAIIIN"
>>19751543Yay, more storytime.
>>19751543Dante's Inferno on Fifth and Madison, you see, was the single most expensive nightclub in all of Seattle. Nine stories deep and constituting each of the seven deadly sins (in addition to the exclusive "purgatory" and super-exclusive "hell" levels), the excesses of its clientele were infamous; many an illegal deed took place behind closed doors wrought in gold at Dante's Inferno. The fact that Mr. Johnson had managed a room so easily in such a short time-frame spoke volumes of his importance. Dervish was the first to note the obvious implications:"Fucking triple-A, man."Realizing that the team's current look wasn't going to cut it, Geppetto hastily called up an old friend."Damien!" Bradford Nice's cavalier voice sounded at the other end. "I was wondering when you'd call. You know, Security Director McWilliams and I still try to keep in touch--""Sorry, Bradford. I've got no time for chit-chat. I need the best four designer suits in the entire Seattle Metroplex. On short notice."Nice chuckled."Gotten yourself into a higher tier of jobs, Geppetto? Good for you, you always struck me as a good earner, even when you were hiding away in warehouse management.""The suits, Bradford.""Tetchy, tetchy. You're looking for Armanté in Bellevue. It's a Zoë subsidiary. Very flash.""I'll take your word on it. Thanks, Bradford.""Don't be a stranger!"
>>19751524So as long as you're not in direct opposition to an actual hacker, you'll be fine using just an agent? Good to know.
>>19751833After blowing nearly six grand, the team had their suits. Each team member had a perfectly fitted white tuxedo over a red shirt, with a minor accent for each:GEPPETTO: Fibers in bowtie and cuffs interspersed with awakened plant fibers to give off sinister, hellish patterns in Astral space.DERVISH: Entire suit interwoven with kevlar and given a delta-amyloid coating. Slight metallic sheen, just subtle enough for a Johnson to take note. Modex loafers designed to show off Dervish's skimmer discs.BEND: Tuxedo given partial ruthenium polymer coating, for light transparency.WILDCARD: AR overlays on the shoes and gloves give the appearance of motion blur and trailing flames.As the team stepped past the bald, tattooed bouncers with jet black cybereyes and into the stunningly massive strip club that was Lust, following the iron catwalks that criss-crossed over the veritable sea of flesh and lead to the elevator, all eyes turned to them. This was officially the Big Leagues.
>>19752015As the glass elevator descended, the team witnessed a panoply of sin: brothels, ludicrously expensive dining, dealers in artifacts and rare weapons, drug dens, gladiatorial arenas, BTL labs, and even, counter-intuitively, live theater. They were lead through the theater of the Pride level to a back room, perfectly soundproofed. Although the room was small and circular, with just enough room for the Johnson, his desk, and the four shadowrunners, the entirety of the room's surfaces were comprised of holographic trideo screens, giving the meeting the appearance of happening in the depths of space."Gentlemen," said the same Johnson as before, "sit down, please. And order whatever you want."Four AR menus popped up in front of the team, primarily featuring food in ridiculous portions and prices from Gluttony. Geppetto's eyes lit up at one of the options on the last page, though, which had pictures of metahumans.Johnson grinned."I did mean it when I said "whatever you want," Geppetto. But don't kill your order, the staff tends to frown on that sort of behavior."Nodding with a slight tinge of embarrassment, Geppetto chose an attractive young elf woman to be his meal, but clarified on the order that he'd be eating later. No sense in sullying the Johnson meet."This is a little out of our price range, Mr. Johnson.""No worries, Geppetto. Tonight is on me."The team exchanged looks."So...shall we get down to business?"Geppetto smiled ear-to-ear, nervous but ecstatic."Yes, that would be ideal, Mr. Johnson."
>>19752124Interesting place.
>>19752124Johnson put up an image: a youthful-looking Asian dwarf, her hair up in a bun, in a labcoat. She stood aside many other scientists; a company photo, most likely."I need you to do an employee extraction. From Universal Omnitech. Do you want to hear more?"Geppetto's eyes widened and he nodded wordlessly. UO was the biggest biotechnology firm in the AA's. The only thing keeping it from the tier of Evo Biomedical was a seat on the corporate court, and it actively competed with Aztechnology in fragmented markets across the globe. This was not going to be an easy extraction, but it would have an astronomical payout."The woman is Dr. Jennifer Chang. She contacted my employer over what she believes to be unfair employee relations at the Universal Omnitech home complex in Vancouver. My employer agreed to hire her under the condition that she could cooperate with an armed extraction. That armed extraction is you four."Bend couldn't help a small gulp.
>>19752290>party faces when
>>19752290"I'm offering you 80,000 nuyen."On his game, Geppetto responded,"You'll have to double that, Mr. Johnson, if you want us to run against the world's second-largest biotech firm on their home turf."Johnson rested his chin on the palms of his hands, amused."I've overpaid you once already. I can go up to 100,000 but after that it's over my budget."Geppetto stood fast."100,000 but we get a 20,000 nuyen expense account, and the ability to negotiate for more if mission expenses prove to be untenable."Johnson pressed a hand to the side of his head, interfacing with an internal commlink. After a few moments, he relented,"Yes, that is acceptable. 100,000 with a 20,000 expense account. You have a deadline of a week. Understand that failure will not be tolerated."Geppetto stood to shook Johnson's hand."Understood."Johnson accepted the handshake, and smiled at Geppetto. His grin brought to mind a lurking shark."Well then, gentlemen, I'll give you the rest of the night to indulge yourselves before the job begins in earnest. I'll send you the full dossier of information posthaste."
>>19752357The team were left in Seattle's most expensive illicit nightclub, with a blank check to do whatever the fuck they wanted."So..." said Geppetto, as the Johnson stood and took his leave, "...I believe that I'm going to stay in pride.""I'm going to Envy," noted Wildcard. "I could use a little escapism, 'cause if anything's going to kill me, it'll be this job.""Wrath," said Dervish. "I always wanted to see if Fight Club stood up in practice.""I...I need a little while to think," said Bend, face pale.He ended up in Lust.Geppetto spent most of the night meeting and greeting various minor celebrities, watching theater performances, and sampling a few souls along the way.Dervish spent the night beating the shit out of wannabe street sammies in a bloodstained arena. When Wildcard stumbled in with a nonfiltered personafix chip in the back of his head, screaming about independence from the British and swinging a sword around, Dervish had to put down "William Wallace" to the cheers of the crowd.Bend, for his part, woke up the next morning on a heart-shaped bed, naked but for his goggles, surrounded by no less than eight prostitutes.With a resigned sigh, Bend rubbed the back of his head and admitted,"I may have strayed from the path a little."SHADOWRUN STORYTIME 14.5/ END
>>19752599>"I may have strayed from the path a little."Naw, really?
Oh, Bend, you card. "May have strayed from the path a little." Hah! It's the little things.On the subject of little things.Anyone recruiting for an SR4 game?
>>19752723I'm trying to reboot an old Shadowrun netgame and review my schedule. If I don't have too much work, I may be able to run a short-but-sweet Shadowrun campaign (5-10 sessions?) for /tg/ sometime around late July/early August. Keep your eyes peeled, I'll probably bring it up in the next Storytime.
>>19752757Sweet, I'll count my ammo until then.
>>19752757TwoDee I've been following your storytimes on suptg for a while but somehow always managed to miss them live until now. Thank you for providing motivation to get a local game kicked off.
>>19752863Glad to hear it, dude! More Shadowrun is always good Shadowrun!
>>19752920Though not fully inspired by this game, I've been kicking around being a GM for a local Shadowrun game for a long while, since I like the settings and mechanics. It's all very nebulous right now, and I'm (re-)reading through the corebook to get everything down, plus it'll be my first-ever go as a GM. Is there anything I should know about running the game in particular? Any notable ways to reasonably bring a party together and to generate runs/NPCs/all-around fill out the setting/provide hooks? I don't have any overarching plots in mind right now, though I wanna do right for my first go as a GM and just play things run by run and progress naturally.
>>19753038The nice thing about Shadowrun is that since the runs are inherently divorced from each other, it can settle into a nice episodic format where you don't have to work to keep the metaplot together or hold a consistent tone. Just keep escalating the stakes per run (with a few breather milk runs in between) and you should be good.As for NPCs, think more in terms of reasonable dice pools than statting every NPC out. That can be...arduous.
Guy who archive binged to spite the sagefag.I love you.Marry me.
>>19753236Reasonable dice pools? You mean think about how to project them and eyeball how big their dice pools should be for any reasonable action?
>>19753402Not the first time I've had an anon ask me this.Alas, I'm already taken.>>19753486Yeah. Think, "Okay, so this is a professional spider, he's probably got about 6 dice to logic and 3 or 4 to his hacking tests, but he'll also have an agent assisting him, maybe a rating 4..."
>>19753690>Alas, I'm already taken.>already>taken
>>19753708It's pretty serious too.What? A flimsy excuse to post this image? So?On Shadowrun - how powerful are gangs like the Halloweeners exactly?Do they just live in places with no law, and thus ARE the government of these places?
>>19753787The Halloweeners are a "tier-two" gang. Not a tiny barrens gang but not a multinational syndicate either. Tier One gangs are terrifying, with a global spread, paramilitary resources and massive income, but with a hierarchy or structure that better fits the "gang" classification than another sort of criminal org. There's only five of these bad boys, between a multinational elf outlaw biker club, a "criminal corp" that wears suits instead of colors and structures itself like a very violent business, a brutal Amazonian cartel, a huge alliance of multiple British and Caribbean street gangs, and Murderous Technomancer Anon (my personal favorite).Tier Three gangs are street trash, and typically control a single neighborhood, if that; they tend to organically appear and get eaten in the Barrens. Tier Two gangs have hundreds of members, multiple chapters, and usually one or two "edges:" in the case of the Halloweeners, it's that they're well-armed, crazy, and tenacious as fuck. Tier Two gangs is where you start approaching "they are the law" territory, but that doesn't become complete truth either until you hit the barrens (where there's no police presence) or you're dealing with a Tier One gang.
>>19754034"tier two gangs are where," rather.
>>19753787source on pic?
>>19754034Where do you get this info, including political/sociological climate, etc.?
>>19754098This particular info was gleaned from a combo of "Seattle 2072" and "Vice."
I'm curious. If I wanted to run a SR3 one shot online with a bunch of /tg/ents...say this weekend at some point. Would anyone have any advice/insight to share on the matter? City to use? Handling combat? Stories?I could stand to get more practice. I'd say I'm still a mediocre GM with Black Trenchcoat leanings but a tendency to allow things to go Pink Mohawk with consequences. Of course one shots are not great for black trenchcoat anyway.
>>19754050 GOU-DERE BISHOUJO NAGIHARA SORA
>>19754645er... just to be clear, I wasn't screaming, I just copy pasted without looking
>>19754607I don't have too much advice rules-wise because I've always had trouble with SR3's rules system. It's one of the reasons I'm really looking forward to the reboot of retro Shadowrun using 4's system. Now I can play in 2050 (or whenever) for old-school gibson OR do state-of-the-art postcyberpunk!
>>19753787Mostly they live out in dumps like the Barrens, with a few of them fulfilling the role of your standard modern-day street gangs (your Crips and Bloods, for instance) in somewhat more lawful settings. The law can take them down there, but they've gotta break it while somebody's watching first.The Halloweeners actually feature pretty prominently in one of the Shadowrun novels. The group that featured had their own bar on the very edge of non-Barrens Seattle, and the joint was actively unfriendly to outsiders. For the most part they got on by doing gang-y things like running protection rackets and selling drugs, while occasionally spicing things up by being used by Shadowrunners as combination smoke screens and cannon fodder.
>>19754687I'm good on rules. When I said handling combat I meant more of...well I find a non-exact map for a space in SR to be infinitely preferred to no map at all. My expectation would be having to type or describe everything...but I haven't done it before.I'm more comfortable with 3rd, and will be running a in person one in a couple weeks. So I'd like to stick to that but I have run 4e before. Figured I'd see if there's any interest at all before I start putting plans together.
Dammit, did I only catch the end of Shadowrun Storytime again?Welp, guess thats what flu does to you.
Alright, I'm going to be running a campaign soon. I know I've said who was all in the party in pretty much every post about Shadowrun, but I'll state again since some people may not know/remember.>Murphy, the bruiser. 0.5 essence, beats shit up.>Akira, the stream samurai. The player is a bit of an ass, but the character is pretty strong.>Mordecai, the face. Pretty much only can do face things, but has a tazer.>Kalek K Kwartz, the drone rigger. Has plenty of drones and a stepvan. Not bad with hardware hacking.>Bliss, the stealthy person. Stealths into places.>Adrian the technomancer. Pretty much pure hacking.>[Forgot-name] the hacker. Is more balanced than Adrian, but is more of a creative thinker.By the way, if you happen to know about this campaign (Tony, Jessie, Shane, etc.), read no farther!Continued...
So, to make the current story short, NeoNET has a R&D group called "Virtual Assembly", which tries to make man into more of machines. Cybertech and bioware are what they do most. However, NeoNET is cutting funding and generally breathing down their necks, not allowing VA to do whatever they want to do. The leader of VA is planning a sort of revolution against NeoNET, and will soon ask for the group's help with that. However, NeoNET has been giving missions to the group and will soon ramp up their dealings, rewarding them much more for doing jobs and possibly inviting them to corporate events.However, Renraku has a sort of specialized "corporate security" (mercenary) team named Shadowgate (The names get better, I swear!). They are in direct competition with Virtual Assembly and actually attacked their HQ.With what is now two factions and soon to be three, I'm leading up to a sort of three-way war. The team will either team with NeoNET or VA, and will likely attack the other in some way either to take over the company or to remove VA from existence. After that, they have the Shadowgate/Renraku threat to worry about.Now, I'm going to have the next mission be a sort of lead up, with the VA leader once again asking for help with a mission. He will make it clear the rift between VA and NeoNET by stating that this mission should stay off the radar of his superiors.Continued...
The mission will be pretty simple in concept. Gore Technologies is a company which does a lot of medical research, and is known for making many cancer breakthroughs and other benefits to mankind. They have a research facility on/in Glacier peak, near Seattle. The group needs to break in, steal NeoNET records from the records room, steal canister T-3 from the nanomachines storage room and replace it with another canister, and finally kill all animals in the animal testing room who have had the T-3 nanomachines tested on them.The facility is on top/in the top of the mountain during winter, so there will be a bit of winter wilderness survival. They can either take the main path which may take 3-5 hours or whatever by stepvan and risk being discovered by the security that would likely be present on the main road. They could always take the wilderness route up the mountain, not on any of the main roads, and most likely not be spotted, but have to deal with bears and cold nights.Morality will be an issue here, as the tech they are stealing will be known to be a step toward a new breakthrough in medical technology. If they steal it, it would be depriving innocent people of medicine. Also, killing animals.Security will be difficult, but I'll likely come up with most of that as I go based on how well the group is doing.Continued...
Well, here's the questions I could use help answering.1: How do I handle the overarching storyline? I'm sure you creative minds have some interesting ideas.2: How do I get the entire party involved in the invasion? What can our face do, for instance, in the wilderness, or what would the technomancer/hacker do without any sort of matrix connection?3: Any sort of interesting yet realistic traps or twists I could spring on them?Thanks for reading and possibly for answering my questions. I'm relatively new to DM'ing and pretty new to Shadowrun, so I could use all the help I could get, especially with such a large party.
Bump of disappointment.
What are good ways to bring a party together and keep them together meaningfully? Somehow, "you all meet in a tavern" doesn't seem to cut it in 2072. One of the few things I can think of, outside of mutual contacts, is taking a page from SR ST here and say "you're all shopping in a Kwik-E-Mart when robbers kick down the front door."
>>19755903I had them meet in a bar to receive an assignment from Shadowgate to kill some VA members. VA attempted to recruit the team, and the team did a 180 and killed off their previous hire-ees and burned the place down.I guess that was "meet in a tavern", but it ended in fire, so that was interesting.I would recommend them all knowing each other in some way or another beforehand (same collage, same neighborhood, etc.). Maybe have them all tracked by a corp beforehand, and all rounded up for a job.
>>19755707I've yet to GM myself, but if I had to guess, I'd say don't plan too far ahead and keep things organic. That is to say, let the events and consequences run their course, and play off of those to influence which way the storyline will twist. If you need little events to push things along, no one's stopping you.The last thing you want to do is deprive a party member of interaction, especially by "turning off their character," so to speak. Each character should have a place where they shine, even if it doesn't immediately come up. Besides, if I were to guess, I'd say the technomancer and hacker aren't in the dead zone you think they are. Any sort of research facility should be connected to the Matrix, since it only makes sense. If the research station's signal is strong enough to reach another node/nexus, then the hacker and techno must easily be in range as well. Remember, all you need for Matrix access is to be in range of another node/nexus that's already connected.As for traps and twists, that sort of thing shouldn't come up too much, considering this facility is 3-5 hours out of the way on a mountain peak, so they're plenty naturally-fortified. That aside, they should still have a regular security contingent for the complex itself.
>>19755707Pretty intresting, not sure if I can help but I'll try.>1: How do I handle the overarching storyline? I have no idea, you are on your own here. I suck at writing, as I have painfully found out in my own d&d world creation work (come on, everybody has done this).>2: How do I get the entire party involved in the invasion? Well, they have guns I'm sure, and extra hands is always... handy. I'm sure once teh hacker gets into the facility he will be able to do something useful. >3: Any sort of interesting yet realistic traps or twists I could spring on them?T-3 accident. Canister gets hit and whoever carries it gets doused in it. Or, random druid shows up in the woods.
>>19756025For a security force, how interesting would it be to have a bunch of clever scientists with natural, biological weapons protecting their research? It's sort of like the reverse of some movie plot: Research center for helping citizens with biotech is being invaded by bad guys trying to steal their hard work. Scientists come up with cool concocitons and such to combat the threat!
>>19756056I dunno. Do YOU think it's interesting?If yes, then do it and don't let me stop you.If no, then don't do it and think of something else.
>>19755903If there's any game where "you meet in a tavern" works, it's the one where the default mode is that the PCs are hired criminals.If ou want something more personal, work with the PC's backstories.That's likely to come in later, though.For most teams, it doesn't seem plausible that a bunch of runners randomly meets on the streets and sticks together.Your PCs aren't a group of fantasy adventurers.
>>197557071. In shadowrun its best to have that storyline only revealed to players who actively look for it. For instance, a clue towards one part might be revealed to a hacker while looking for something else, but unless they follow it up, it doesnt make sense to the players until shit hits the fan. Often times shadowrun players like to ignore the larger goings on, but when they threaten their lives they may sit up and take action.2.I always try to create encounters for every player, however the players always seem to find a way to tunnel around my encounters. For instance, i might have a spider statted up to combat the hacker, some guards for the rest of the party, and a spirit for the mage. And then the party might decide to say, sneak in pretending to be the cleaning staff and think their way around all of the encounters. You then have to try to find a way to challenge the party on the fly. It can be done, however your party is HUGE, so i would suggest manifesting spirits (because you have no mages) having matrix enemies manifest in AR, so your hackers can fight in the same initiative as your combat guys. That way you can combine2 Enemy Guards.Enemy Spirit. 2 Enemy AgentsEnemy Gun TurretEnemy DroneAll in one combat encounter.
>>197560873. The best thing to play against your players is information warfare. Think of it like this, NOTHING is set in stone, until your players learn about it. If the source is unreliable, the thing may yet change as well. So you can have them learn about something, but have another thing that they didnt find bite them in the arse. Also remember to have the occaisional trap or doublecross. Make sure that they learn not to trust anybody.On top of that, hit up demonwipe.com/darknetIts a small site with a fairly dedicated userbase at this point, with IC roleplay. Basically its a mix of jackpoint/shadowsea/news/jobseeking for shadowrunners. I know of 2 or 3 games being run out of there, or with the assistance of it, and its lots of fun.Good luck, and remember to have fun
>>19756087>>19756097Thanks a lot for the help. That site looks interesting; I'll hit it up once I'm done here.
Okay, I've got some questions about some Shaman. Specificaly these Insect and Toxic ones. Where can I find more info on them, and are they playable? The extent of my knowledge is that insect spirits are nasty, and nobody likes toxie shamans.
>>19755707One more thing. I always find it fun to counter players assumptions. So if they are planning and they all out ASSUME that something is one way with no evidence to back it up. Have it be different or weird. Keep them on their toes.
>>19754034So where does 2D's 4chan esque hacker network fit in on the gang levels? Or is it something different?
>>19756087>2.I always try to create encounters for every player, however the players always seem to find a way to tunnel around my encounters. For instance, i might have a spider statted up to combat the hacker, some guards for the rest of the party, and a spirit for the mage. And then the party might decide to say, sneak in pretending to be the cleaning staff and think their way around all of the encounters. You then have to try to find a way to challenge the party on the fly. It can be done, however your party is HUGE, so i would suggest manifesting spirits (because you have no mages) having matrix enemies manifest in AR, so your hackers can fight in the same initiative as your combat guys. That way you can combine>2 Enemy Guards.>Enemy Spirit.>2 Enemy Agents>Enemy Gun Turret>Enemy Drone>>All in one combat encounter.Why hassle the players if they thought laterally and worked around your preexisting security? Congratulate them on a job well done and let them reap their rewards. You can have a couple hiccups, but again, things should happen organically. You don't just spontaneously spawn corpsec because they didn't walk down the hallway you thought they would.Also, you don't just "[have] matrix enemies manifest in AR." Those connections have to come from somewhere. Plus, that doesn't even make sense. Unless someone is spontaneously hacking all your commlinks, I'm not sure what to make of this.
>>19756154If someone finds out that you're an insect shaman then you're remaining lifespan is measured in initiative passes as everyone, even the most blackhat of blackhats will want you dead.
>>19755903The default in shadowrun, i guess the Tavern Equivalent, is: The fixer calls you all in, previously you have all been freelancers, but he needs a team for an urgent job, and its yours if you want it. He might offer a bonus for coming together so quickly, and the option is there for the team to split up afterwards or pick up new members or whatever. And then theres always the stuffer shack, that like 40% of all shadowrunners met in.
>>19756169Sorry, that comment should be split into 2.On one hand, that players can sneak around and outsmart you.And on the other, here is a good encounter for your party.I didnt mean for it to come off as "Here are the guys you throw at your players if they outsmart you"Sorry english comprehension fail.
>>19756056Sounds like something out of Resident Evil.
>>19756169Also: fighting in AR is a thing. It does assume that the hackers are in the corps system and have been detected. But it is an option for new players and low matrix games, as it allows meatspace initiative against agents, making cybercombat fairly easy. You can always ramp up the difficulty later on, but a a start it can be very beneficial for new players to experience matrix combat from the safety of the meatspace.
>>19756056A lot of places might do this. Security guards might get the latest upgrades for free from the scientists if they agree to be part of the test sample. Bio monsters or lab creatures may be released during security threats. These are great ways to put players on the back foot.
>>19756154Street Magic has the rules for them and they're meant to be NPCs. Pretty frightening ones at that.You're right, everybody hates them, but there's a few corps and policlubs working with them (and everybody would be after them if that ever came out, the bugs are the ultimate bogeyman in Shadowrun and toxics aren't notably better).
>>19756236I know you can handle Matrix encounters in both AR and VR. I'm saying that Matrix encounters like what you describe don't just "happen." Someone has to be trying to fry your commlink. Unless you're talking about paranormal Matrix activity or AIs, there's always someone behind the persona.
>>19756219What sort of weapons could some scientists devise in a short period of time? All I'm thinking is nanomachine biters or acids, maybe bioengineered animals from the animal testing room. I talked about a Kuma/o for a while with a friend. Since they sound so much alike in Japanese, why not combine a bear and spider together? I try to incorporate bears into any campaigns whenever possible.
>>19756263welp, beat me to it.
>>19756268You can fidge that for new players. For instance there could be a heavy emphasis on the AR overlay of the node they are hacking into, where (for absolutely no good reason, it is actually bad for them tactically, unless they have Spiders with wired reflexes) the agents icons are manifested in AR. Perhaps the company likes to show of their IC to customers in the lobby?
>>19756312There's rules for bioengineered animals in Running Wild.If you don't have that at hand, yes, it's totally feasible to combine a spider and a bear.
>>19756362I actually did some cyberwarfare before, but it usually was just when breaking into a node or whatever to get information, something would appear defensively. So, are you saying that having something attack them directly over the matrix is possible?
>>19756312Well i would look at it less "what can they devise in a short time" and more "what were they already working on that has applications here" and theres a lot you can do with that. T especially iereting to tat up stuff that they are working on, that they wouldnt release during an attack, for fear of their own safety. So many players will hack into a security system and announce "I OPEN ALL THE DOORS HAHAHAHA" and its always good having another surprise ready for that instance.
>>19756384If a spider successfully traces the intruder, yes. Hell, the end of the Two-Times arc here in Shadowrun Storytime was a VR showdown between personas to control a Thor laser satellite.
>>19756406Oh wow wireless keyboard, way to go>Its especially interesting to stat up stuff...
>>19756162That would be Chaos Engine, the Sixth World's most dangerous Matrix Gang. They're Tier One on the internet, but don't have presence anywhere else. Infamous for redirecting drone ships to deliver cargo elsewhere for huge bank, murder over MMORPGs, and hacking business transactions mid-exchange.
>>19756406By the way, the T nanomachines were supposed to be used by VA. They originally were supposed to elimiate cancer cells, but VA would plan to weaponize it and use it against NeoNET in their coup. Plenty of the other nanomachines there could be used against PCs, especially the kind that shuts down cyberware.
>>19756267Well that just makes them sound even cooler. I'll have to try and find that book.
>>19756517Sounds like fun. I personally have massive seething hate for nano machines. But in the context of your game, if thats what you like, go nuts.
>>19756580I'm just curious, why don't you like it? If it's because of scientific feasibility, I feel you man.
Hey. I haven't finished reading the thread yet, but here's some more art. I would also like to be involved with that finale you mentioned. Email in field.
By the way, TwoDee, if you're still here, thanks for the cool threads. They are pretty inspiring.
>>19756657Its less scientific feasibility, and more that sci fi authors tend to use nano machines as science flavoured magic. Whats more, when explaining how things might work, anything else gets a pretty convincing explanation on how things might work, Nanotech gets "LOL NANOMACHINES I DONT GOTTA EXPLAIN SHIT" So when i run shadowrun, i dont use any of the nanotech stuff, with the occaisional item being refluffed. Like the nano fabber just being an awesome 3d printer. I dont want to dissuade you from doing what you think is cool, its just not for me.
>>19756818One thing I really hate about Shadowrun is the technology. The astounding amount of psudo-technology behind it is staggering. All that "avatar" stuff and cybercombat is really irritating. However, I understand it makes the combat more interesting than describing how you abused a glitch in their Java to put a keylogger somewhere or something like that.
>>19756810Isn't that robot from Ghost in the Shell?
>>19756886It appears it may be, but these are just pictures I found on /tg/ a while back. In order to make it feel like I'm giving back something to the community when I'm asking so many questions (and receiving answers!), I attach pictures to my posts that relate to the subject. That, or stalin.
>>19756855Well, what do YOU think the Internet will act like in sixty years?
>>19756886Yeah, that's a tachikoma.You can get something working almost like it in SR if you mod the Steel Lynx drone a little and put an AI inside.
>>19756951I'm not exactly sure, but hacking would likely be as it is now and has been for a long time: CLI. We aren't going to be having cyber-dinosaurs break through walls of cyber-stuff or beating up other avatars, rather finding exploits in the software or attempting to somehow brute-force biometric scanners.
>>19756855Theres a difference between "this is movie logic" and "this is not logical at all"With hacking and most of the shadowrun technology, it runs on movie logic, an attempt is made to explain why things work, and the way the society is changed by its presence. And yeah while the hacking isnt as real hacking as it should be, it runs on the same logic as The Matrix/GitS which is, you can be "IN" the system, and you can fight over it. And i am actually very happy that the system actually asks you to get different access levels (admin, user, superuser) and actually sniff out data and wifi signals. In fact i think the matrix is scalable by the GM all the way from "The Matrix" to "Modern Hacking" depending on what parts of what books you use.
>>19756707Oh...oh my god.You are my favorite.Will that email be good a few months from now? Because it's still a long way to the finale. I'm retelling a two-year weekly campaign session by session, after all.
>>19756154>>19756267Expanding on anon's description, here's basically the summary (bugs first, toxics next post):INSECT SPIRITSYou know how shamanic magic is one of the most common magical traditions? And you know how it worships incarnate spirits of animals? Well, a few decades back a cult called the Church of Scie--I'm sorry, a cult called the Universal Brotherhood found out that there were also incarnate spirits of bugs, and started worshiping those.And their new "gods" wanted some weird fucking favors.Essentially, insect spirits are possession spirits that go for a permanent arrangement, and on top of that their wants are completely alien and incomprehensible by man. It used to be that they'd just infect whole city blocks at once, but now that there's more awareness about them, they're smart enough to be more subtle about it. Most insect-possession hosts undergo horrible mutations ranging from turning part of the way into to all of the way into a giant bug, but a "lucky" few maintain roughly metahuman bodies. These are in many ways the worst, as they can masquerade as human long enough to dupe hapless recruits into visiting the hive.The most nefarious part of the insect spirits is that they have to act through mortal agents, so for every hive there's a batfuck insane shaman who WILLINGLY summoned the Queen. Ares Macrotech, naturally, keeps a standing death warrant on all insect shamans, spirits, and "maggots" (mortal quislings who work with the shaman).
>>19756468As always, some awesome Shadowrun to go with my morning sunshine. I've been wondering. What the heck is Dervish filled with? I know he's got his signature skimmers and cyberblades, but do you have a list or anything?
>>19757036Whats the best sourcebook for insect spirits. I feel my players arent afraid enough yet.
Alright, I'm off this thread for the night. I hope to see more Shadowrun Story-Time!
>>19757086You don't really need a book. Just have the party go to Chicago so you can reenact Resident Evil. Bug spirits are rather rare nowadays, since everyone is on the lookout after Chicago got glassed.
>>19757106I just want to know how to run the inspects properly, and then they can get in the way of my party where ever they are.
>>19757036Awsome. I for one would welcome my new wasp overlords.So what about toxic shamans? More perversions of nature I'm sure. Probably easier to fly under the radar as one.
Well, 2D, thanks for scaring the shit out of me!No really, thanks. Now I finally get why they say "Geek the Mage first".Is there any way I can, as a Dervish inspired street sam, protect myself from ritual magic?
>>19757036Continuing...TOXIC MAGICSo, all magic in the Shadowrun world (even Black Magic) is inherently derived from nature. It's one of the reasons why a lot of global pollution went backwards with the Awakening, and why nukes above a certain scale just don't work anymore: the earth is magic, and it does not like nukes. Thus, there's a sort of diametric opposition between the natural world of magic and the oppressive pollution of technology.Toxics are mages who go WAAAAAAAY in the wrong direction, either through some horrible traumatic incident that turns them against other mages, or by sticking around in an area of high pollution (for instance, that one radioactive crater in the Redmond Barrens, or the sewers beneath a factory) so long that something in them snaps. They basically hit a kind of "nega-magic" based around pollution and industry; radiation instead of fire, sludge instead of water, smog instead of air spirits, et cetera. Toxics have their own mentor spirits, paths, and spells, many of them completely divorced from "traditional" magic.What makes toxics better than the bugs is that they can be reasoned with. All toxic mages are completely, irrevocably, irredeemably evil, and will probably rather kill you than give the time of day, but they're not alien beings. They ARE people. Really crazy, fucked up people who worship destruction and corruption, but people nevertheless. Hell, in-universe there are even rumors that Aztechnology, one of the biggest polluters, actually HIRES the world's four most powerful toxics, the Four Horsemen, as a running team.
>>19757019>mfwAbsolutely should still be active. I'm also working on a picture of Bend as my brother types this.
>>19757197>is there any way that I, as a Dervish-inspired street sam, can protect myself from ritual magic?Ritual magic has a huge buildup and signature. In other words, hope you have a mage with good astral perception and then, if he succeeds at that, good counterspelling.Also make him take the sterilize spell.For you, minimizing the risk consists of wearing a hermetically-sealed suit of armor on the job or, failing that, picking up platelet factories to make you clot up quick. Spilling fresh blood where a mage can get it is a bad idea.
>>19757086Street Magic. Also, pick up the OLD sourcebooks "Bug City" and "Universal Brotherhood" if you can.>>19756810Thanks, dude!>>19757106Bug spirits aren't "rare" at all.They just learned how to hide.Who did you hear that from? Was he wearing thick sunglasses?They hide the compound eyes that way.
>>19757316Twodee, on the spot: What would be the 10 spells you consider the most useful?
So, /tg/, what's more that guy: A pacifistic (not suicidally so) nun christian theurge elf SURGED to be like a siren (water-breathing, special song, glamours), or an ex-Bunraku Meat Puppet razorgirl assassin with a creepy submissive personality badly in need of resocialization?
Oh my goodness! more art!
>>19757316...I need to have a talk with my neighbor.
>>19757400Meat puppet.
>>19757400Difficult question... the second one sounds straight up weaboo territory.
>>19757400Neither if done well.Both if done badly.
>>19757419That's brilliant. YOU'RE brilliant.Do you plan to do every character eventually?
>>19757508I'm drawing up some Geppeto as we speak.
>>19757197There's also (I think) a genetic optimization from Augmentation that makes your cells' DNA degrade once it falls off you in ~10 minutes.
>>19757596Aww yisssss.You're the same guy who did those Dervish things a few threads back, right? I still got those saved.
>>19757389Ooh, missed this. Let me handle this one.
>>19757389>>19757727Okay, here's my top 10 off the top of my head, in the order I came up with them.>Stunbolt>Sterilize>Influence>Improved Invisibility>Levitate>Heal>Mind Probe>Increase Reflexes>Trid Phantasm>OrgasmI am 100% serious about that last one.
>>19757783So we've heard.
>>19757783No Turn To Goo?
>>19757850It would be #11, but all those other spells just SLIGHTLY top it.
>>19757699I am indeed.Here is Gepetto. Largely inspired by that nuclear spirit bit in Lagos.
>>19757879Fair enough, I suppose.I can see why those are all useful, but I'd take Turn to Goo over Orgasm--but, then, personal experience, I haven't really had a chance to experiment with Orgasm yet, out of fear of not getting to play for being 'that guy'.Fond memories of Turn to Goo, though, especially as a GM.
>>19757783A very interesting list, Although I'm sure Gepetto will be a little disappointed that his Body Puppetry didn't make it onto the list XD
>>19757939Somehow, you've made fire that also looks like it is dripping out of his clenched hands.Bravo.
So hey, 2D, just as a question: Bend seems to no like Gepetto that much, for, uh, obvious reasons. Now, my experience, even runner groups that can't stand one another will work together and come to the other's aid in distress.Would/is Bend that way towards Gepetto, and vice versa? Of course, if answering would spoil future storytimes, feel free to ignore the question, I'm just curious.
>>19757960Control Thoughts and its derivatives both allow the target a chance every turn to shake it off, and require a simple action from the caster to direct every turn. Very situational, and in combat situations would be served with combat spells, whereas in operation situations could be more subtly done with Influence.Geppetto took it because it's flavorful and fucking terrifying, not because it's good.>>19757939Hahaha, Geppetto's looking about appropriate, astrally speaking. I've never seen such an evil fucking character come from such a bro of a player.
>>19758045Our group had a very explicit agreement: personal preference has no bearing on the mission, and personalities only matter on the job insofar as they might interfere with operations. You DON'T betray your teammates, you DON'T try to sell them out, you DON'T have second thoughts about following the plan because you dislike somebody.Bend and Geppetto would NEVER hang out off the clock in the same way that TwoDee and Dervish did, but there's a difference between not being friends and not respecting each other, and if Bend and Geppetto had anything for each other, it was respect.
>>19757139All the rules for bugs are in Street Magic.The best -although outdated- fluff for them is in Bug City, which is out of print, but the pdf should be found on /rs/. Feral Cities updates the Chicago situation for SR4 and there's still plenty of bug activity down there once you dig deep enough.Some bugs recently are big on infiltrating the mafia, so The Godfather and Sopranos may be appropriate as well.There's also rumors about REALLY big hives in the Kongo.Keep in mind that Flesh Forms retain all memories and skills of their hosts and will be smart as fuck if their Force is high enough. They're damn good at hiding. Oh, they can mask their auras as well. Neat, isn't it? These could be everywhere. They don't just take over a host, they take over a life. Maybe a capo's or CEO's life. The bugs look out for hosts in powerful positions.The hybrids can be formidable in combat if you pick the right hosts, so they've got the brute force thing covered as well. These are basically like possession spirits, but they can fully use the host's cyberware, including AR and VR (flesh forms can do this, too- yes, there's possibly bug hackers).True form bugs are basically normal manifestation spirits. Good for surprise attacks and general mobility. Also a good choice if your host was weak and unimportant, as they entirely use their own stats. (cont)
>>19757996Thank you kindly. >>19758058Glad to have done him justice. Now I just need to draw Wildcard.
>>19758126(cont)You also get 5 different castes of bugs for every species, so you can have everything from scouts to workers to soldiers or nymphs (illusionist mages), with a wide selection of powers.There's the right bug for every situation and once the hive's got a queen, the only limit for their growth is having enough host bodies around, because queens get Astral Gateway as a power.It hardly matters at this point if the shaman is still around, although these can make for nasty opponents as well.No surprise it took years to take back Chicago.Bugs are scary. Their stats sucked in SR2, now they're about the worst thing you can send at your players if you are sadistic enough to give them host bodies that are tough to begin with.
>>19758126They also expand on the whole Bug Spirit fracas in Conspiracy Theories. The bugs are moving on Ares, since Ares hunts them the most directly. Mysteriously, Ares news outlets have started reporting that the bugs are no threat...
>>19758210Their bioweapons division has got this covered from more than one angle, so there's really no need to worry.
>>19757036they're basically ghost xenomorphs.
>>19757086Fuck you Cache, fuck you. You are an evil bastard.
>Mention using insect spirits on /tg/ in full view of players>Am i bluffing? Or are those bastards around the next corner?>Shadowrun is the true paranoia
>>19758126>>19758147 Pretty cool, though all of that pretty much precludes player use. Could be used as a big ol' box of [FUCK YOU] when you summon a queen around your worst enemies home base, but not that useful for your standard run.Toxics could work just as well as the current magics, it seems like. Though radiation might be a bit too… imprecise. Don’t wana go causing radiation poisoning in half a city block every time you use your magic. Or do I?
>>19758307Damn you Cache, you KNOW I took Paranoia as a disadvantage our of game. Now I'm worried...but I can't exactly prepare too much as I have no IC knowledge and that would break the OOC/IC divide....Damn you.
>>19758356I could see players introducing a flesh form nymph into a large enemy corporation. Fom there she seduces people, cocoons them and then makes them into flesh forms. Slowly building a hive in the midst of a corporation. Their dual nature would give them away eventually, but i towuld be a while until they caught on, and maybe they target magical security experts first. In this way a hive could pop up in a very non obvious place. Hell maybe the players dont know that the person they are placing in a corporation is actually a nymph and they have to deal with the fallout if she turns on one of the players.
>>19758356>Don’t wana go causing radiation poisoning in half a city block every time you use your magic. Or do I?If you're a toxic, then yes, yes you do.
>>19758392Feel free to prepare for something i may never use.
>>19758433Ah, now that you mention it, I totaly do. I think I might be a bad person, you guys.
>>19758356That's why you wear a NBC Suit at all times.Oddly enough, a Radiation Toxic shaman would be the best for a PC to be. They are, iirc, concerned with 'Purifying' the world. That could work (Mostly) with player goals running against a corp.
>>19758456In Dunkelzahn's will, he place a bounty for both Blood mages and Toxic mages. Dead or alive.I think there is something about Insect Spirits aswell in his will.
>>19758499I saw the bounties (about 1mil nuyen each), but I don't remember anything about insect shamy.
>>19758548Oh, and that bountie was alive only.
>>19758456Some have this purifying thing going on (whatever THAT means to a toxic), some just want to see the world burn.
>>19758548it seems my memory of his will was wrong. thanks.
>>19758609To a mad mage? Could mean something like this:"They took her from me...they took her...the bastards took her and I'll never see her again...they don't deserve to live, the world would be a better place if I cleansed them and all like them away with nuclear fire. It will be just like Sodom and Gomorrah"Have a Nuclear Mage who was a corp mage until his daughter was found to be a technomancer and taken away for 'Examination'
>>19758610There is a wiki for Shadowrun, though it is horribly lacking in information. But at least the will is in (what I think) its entirety on the site.
>>19758813Pretty sure I'm stealing that for a combat mage at some point. Nuclear fire has a nice ring to it.
>>19758907>>19758907You are gonna love the rest of shadowrun storytime in that case 3:)
>>19759289He makes another cameo!When was the last time you commented in one of these things?
>>19759289Oh, fun.
>>19757053Wow, totally missed this.He has custom cybereyes with flare comp, ultrasound, wideband radar, and a bunch of other goodies, max rating bone density augs, max rating synaptic boosters, cyberspurs, cyberblades, cyber lower legs (later raptor legs), skimmer discs, a pain editor, platelet factories, a suprathyroid gland, and I think one or two other things I'm missing.Yeah, he's a monster.
>>19760248I can't remember if he was described in one the earlier threads, but what does Wildcard look like under his mask? Also does he wear the mask all the time or does he take it off/switch to another mask when he isn't 'running?
>>19760394Beneath the mask, Wildcard looks like an extremely bland, ordinary salaryman. Caucasian, hazel eyes, light brown hair. Of course, it's all surgically done, anyway; you'd never guess he's an orc!Although he generally doesn't wear the mask when he's off in public, Wildcard's had multiple plastic surgeries to change his face after each of his more major crimes, for fear of his SINs being compromised. This has the side effect of causing him to not remember what his own face looks like, hence his weird little quirk about wearing the mask as much as possible. It's kind of...what is that phrase that they use for autism sufferers? A grounding mechanism.
>>19760485>>19759289I've been curious, I've been working on a mage and as I went through the traditions, I noticed that Guardian spirits aren't a part of the Black Magic tradition. How exactly did Gapetto grab that black knight of his?
>>19760607Through one of his Initiations.A good use of an initiation, too.
>>19760682You can use an initiation to grab a Spirit type you don't have? I totally missed that.
>>19757212I'm wondering just how fucked up a Toxic Mage would ultimately be? I mean, I was tossing around this concept of a Doctor, who's pretty much had to spend his entire working life on victims of radiation, chemical burns, poisoning etc. To the point where his proximity mixed with the stress would have warped his vision on magic. Could he have adopted the toxic path to learn more about the innate nature of pollution in the awakened world, or would he have to turn into moustache Twirly McGeeAlso, would it be possible to create a tradition that walks the line of both the natural magical world toxic one. Some belief in finding synthesis between the schism that divides the two sources of magic. I ask because of my lack of experience in playing awakened characters.
>>19761908Something is fundamentally...broken...in a toxic mage. It's not something a person who is all there can quite comprehend from what I understand.Mind you, that 'Broken' COULD be an obsession that goes very far into the unhealthy.
>>19761184That's a house rule. Technomancers can get new sprite types through submersion, but mages normally are restricted to their 5 starting spirit types.Of course, there is a way to get about any kind of spirit uder your control- you can re-bind the spirits of other mages after banishing them. That's kow as pokemancy and it's the main reason why people even pick the banishment skill in the first place.>>19761908> Could he have adopted the toxic path to learn more about the innate nature of pollution in the awakened world, or would he have to turn into moustache Twirly McGeeBoth is possible, but toxics have clearly crossed a line no matter how good their intentions originally have been.It's just inherent to the kind of magic they use.
>>19763196Ah, that's unfortunate. I wanted to grab fire for my Shinto mage. That way she could summon Amaterasu Omikami if she ever went for 'Fuck it all, Force 12+ Great Spirit'
>>19763282Well, you could always re-fluff another kind of spirit so it fits the sun theme. Maybe a spirit of man with a light-based elemental combat spell taken as an optional power.
>>19763352Maybe. Means that the actual Sun Mentor Spirit won't help unfortunately. Pity about Shinto not having fire.
>>19760485iirc, wildcard was a support street sam, any idea what are his augs?
>>19763928Likely the standard stuff. Wired Reflexes, maybe some skillwires, bone lacing etc.
>>19763928>>19764383Mostly good attributes more than anything else; His ware list was way less extensive than Dervish's.-Wired Reflexes-Implanted Commlink-Datajack w/ datalock-Cerebral Booster
>>19761184>>19763196>>19763282>>19763352>>19763455It is indeed a house rule, but in my opinion a very minor and rational one. Our one major house rule has to do with the metaplanes, and you'll see it eventually in-storytime.Remember also that magical traditions are not the end-all be-all. Shadowrun EXPRESSLY encourages you to tweak them and make new ones to your liking.I once had a Chaos Mage who worked off Intuition instead of Logic because he saw Chaos Magic as a very high-stakes form of gambling, rather than manipulating statistics.
>>19764832Ok. I might talk to the GM about swapping...water maybe...for Fire. So that I can have her go with the Sun like I'd been wanting.
>>19764792Ah! Reflex recorders, too.
>>19765263Reflex Recorders are a nice little addition to any sam.
