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>>20950596

>Thread for the Discussion of Fables concerning Shadowrun with Complementary Argumentation: The Seventeenth

Also, anon, never let it be said that I don't fulfill my promises.

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>>20950596

"There you have it," said the out-of-town fixer, as Brianna McReary, Bend, Wildcard, Locke, and Dervish eyed the purchase. "It's got two Gatling guns, a bank of missiles, cots and rations for a full squad, military-grade armor plating, lock-on and EMP countermeasures, and an emergency eject that deploys away from the rotors."
Wildcard whistled loudly.
"Only used by a little old Red Samurai Squad on Sundays, eh?"
"Mitsuhama, actually," commented the fixer, "and then one of my Prime running teams. A Hound ain't much of a stealth craft, though, and they've been doing runs across the border in Denver, so we've been in talks and they'll upgrade to a T-Bird as soon as they can offload this attack chopper. You interested in buying?"
Wildcard nodded emphatically, but Dervish and Bend glared him down. Locke responded,
"That depends on if the price is right. It's a nice helicopter, but we're in the market to protect ourselves, hypothetically, from an Aztec attack squadron, and a gunship it isn't."

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>>20950645

"Full price I'm expecting all paid is two hundred and fifty thousand, but I assume you're not paying it all up front."

Locke got a quick OK from the rest of the team over the subvocals, and then responded,

"We can handle the fifty right now, and then we'll do the rest in down-payments."

The fixer frowned and examined his nails. He was a barrel-chested African-American human in a nice suit and shades, and cultivated an intentional air of aloofness despite the nigh-comically-illegal transaction that was taking place.

"I need some incentive for you to pay up quickly, otherwise my team isn't getting their T-bird. I'll accept that if I get to charge ten percent interest every month until the full price is paid off."

Locke rebounded,

"Done, but you only get the interest off whatever's left in the payment. So if we pay it off early, the interest goes down."

The fixer nodded slowly.

"That's agreeable. You have a deal. Brianna, I'm expecting my fee."

McReary reached into the pocket of her smart pantsuit and produced a credstick.

"Thanks for putting us at the front of the line, Dimon."

"Anything for a fellow fixer. You boys treat this bird right. Oh, and the hangar doesn't come with, so I'm expecting you out in 24 hours."

Wildcard grinned.

"Don't worry. I'm itching to take this lass for a fly anyhow."

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>>20950717

As the team arced over the skies of Auburn and then rode the smoky updrafts of Puyallup, keeping out of range of any of the megacorps’ greedy eyes, Wildcard quizzed the team. His eyes twitched in his head as he interfaced with the helicopter’s Move-By-Wire override, but he maintained enough cogency to talk.

“Smooth ride?”

Everyone else on the team grunted their approval.

“Familiarized yourselves with the guns?”

Dervish put up a thumbs-up from the minigun’s control console.

“Shot up a couple of cars as we passed over the scrap heap.”

“Was wondering what that was. That just brings us to the most important question.”

The team looked expectantly at Wildcard.

“…where the hell do we park this thing?”

Jose Rodriguez, the blind, elderly orc gladiator-cum-freedom-fighter known to his young protégé and said protégé’s running team as “Sensei,” was mildly jarred by the loud “FWOCKA FWOCKA” coming from the roof of his crumbling Barrens abode. DocWagon, the news, and the cops tended to stay out of Redmond, which meant that the helicopter he guessed to be approximately 20 meters above his humble home (and lowering fast) was corp, privately owned, or merc.

He leapt to the reasonable assumption that Aztechnology had found him again, latched up his ceramic ballistic armor, ran a quick diagnostics check on his cyberblades, tossed a grenade belt over his shoulder, and made for the roof.

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>>20950748

As Sensei spotted the Eagle Warrior on the rooftop, gesturing for the large combat chopper to land, he knew that his hunch was right. His sight was failing, but his sonar scan would pick up the distinctive balance fins on the armor anywhere. He crept in, knowing he’d only have one chance for the kill.

“I’VE GOT YOU NOW MOTHERFUCKERS”

As sensei leapt from the rubble, the Eagle Warrior responded with astonishing speed and fluidity, his Improved Reflexes spell in full tilt. Sensei ducked and dodged towards his enemy while the Aztec yelped in surprise, shooting gouts of smoldering ash at his assailant.

Sensei landed atop the Eagle Warrior with a laugh, deploying both of his elbow cyberblades. However, to his surprise, the Eagle Warrior shouted,

“I won’t let you take me alive, Aztec!”

Sensei stopped an inch short of punching both blades through the Aztec’s faceplate.

“Hey, kid, that was my line.”

Dervish stepped off the helicopter, looking sidelong at Sensei and Locke as he finished a fast-food hoagie.

“Hey. Mexicans. Chill.”

Locke adjusted the hermetic seal on his beak-like helmet and glared at Dervish.

“Who the fuck is this!?”

“Dad, meet Locke. Locke, meet Dad.”

“I can see the resemblance.”

As Locke skulked back into the helicopter, Sensei stood up and brushed himself off, retracting his cyberblades.

“Where are the clown and the hippy? They in the chopper?”

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>>20950777
Dervish beamed.

“Yep. We were thinking about parking it here when it’s not in use, since no corp is going to go searching in the Barrens.”

Sensei grimaced at Dervish.

“Son, you can think all you want, but that’s not going to stop every two-bit hood, man-eating monster, and radioactive mutant in Redmond from gunning for the combat chopper on my roof.”

Wildcard stepped out of the back of the helicopter, holding large sacks of cement under his arms.

“We were also thinking we’d set up a concrete perimeter with an electric fence and a lumber and camo-netting façade over the helipad. Maybe a few attack drones for good measure.”

Locke added,

"We're also going to set up a ward and a few spirit patrols."

Sensei pointed at Wildcard.

“No cost to me?”

“I’m footing the bill personally.”

Sensei leaned over and put his arm over Dervish’s red, white and blue shoulders.

“Enjoy your new parking spot, son.”

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>>20950804

It was late in December, 2073, and with the notable exception of Dervish, who was now living with Sensei in their fortress compound built around a decaying office building, the entire team had taken the compromise of their identities and living spaces during the Universal Omnitech run to be an omen that it was time to upgrade their living quarters.

Wildcard had moved into a Finnigan Mob suburb in Renton, paying off his unassuming white picket fence and backyard pool with periodically helping his repugnant landlord, Mrs. O’Malley, to rough up the local debtors. He also started spending money on real food, at least until Locke started coming over to mooch off of him. He then promptly stopped.

Bend moved to a Puyallup Neo-shamanic Buddhist fusion post-capitalist organic co-op, sharing the space with dozens of other young idealogues. Of course, Bend himself was well into his fifties, but the point was that he was young at heart, wasn’t it? He found himself pleased with the busywork that distracted him from his criminal lifestyle, such as maintaining the gardens and refueling the hybrid-biodiesel-and-used-vegetable-oil generator in the basement.

Locke’s door/roof finally collapsed, dropping the devil rat nest on the floor above into his bolt hole. He proceeded to move to the other bombed-out ruin next door, but not before clearing out a nest of feral ghouls and a sludge spirit.

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>>20950835

The team sat in their usual seats in Brianna McReary’s office as their fixer, wearing one of her better skirt-suits, hung up festive decorations. She bounced about the office, hanging up a wreath for the desk, some mistletoe for the door, and four stockings monogrammed with the street names of the team. She whistled cheerily as she went about her work, periodically stopping to survey AR windows floating out from the nexus.

“I hate to bring down the festive atmosphere, but while I’m all for spending the avvy getting minced on eggnog, I was under the impression that this was a business meet.”

Brianna shot a glare Wildcard’s way, a little bit miffed.

“Give me my moment, okay, Wildcard? This is the closest a fixer gets to a holiday.”

“Reminds me,” commented Dervish, who had brought an entire six-pack of cherry-and-coriander holiday beer upstairs with him, and was currently working on the fourth bottle, “are you doing a Christmas party again like last year?”

Brianna positively beamed.

“I finally got the dining room at my house renovated, so I’ll be able to do it properly this year, too. The roast turkey, the decorations…You’re invited, of course, and let me know if you’re bringing guests. Right now it’s mostly Abe and my other business contacts, but Damien will be stopping by, and Malcolm promised he’d bring his kids to play with my son…”

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>>20950860

“They sound so innocuous now that they’re out of the game,” shuddered Bend. “Damien and Malcolm, law-abiding citizens.”

“Damien and Malcolm, James Bond villain and flag-pin-wearing spider nutball,” agreed Dervish, popping his fifth beer.

Bend frowned at Dervish.

“Are you gonna insult me when I retire, too?”

Wildcard shrugged.

“We do it now, you dandelion-eating ponce.”
Locke chuckled at Wildcard’s sentiment, prompting a complaint from Bend.

“Hey, Azzie! Show some respect!”

Locke looked at Wildcard with his mouth half-open, looking for validation that Bend was being hysterical. Wildcard just shrugged and commented,

“Respect is important, newbie.”

Locke rolled his eyes and looked at a couple of passing AR windows, mostly detailing events in the corporate world.

“So, are there any good-looking jobs on the market, Brianna?”

“Well, Bend mentioned that the team still wants to gauge your skills, Locke, and I wanted to toss you something easy for the holidays, anyway…”

Locke looked over at Bend to find the tie-dye-wearing infiltrator wearing a smirk.

“…which is why I’ve got a simple wetwork job lined up for you.”

Bend’s smile promptly disappeared.

“Wait, what?”

Brianna shrugged.

“It was the best-paying job in its class, Bend. You used to be a Ghost, you shouldn’t have a problem with killing.”

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>>20950877

“Well, Buddhism suggests that conflict can have grave circumstances on one’s harmony, and on top of that, killing is gross.”

It was Locke’s turn to wear the shit-eating grin.

“My religion is fundamentally based around killing!”

Brianna nodded toward Locke.

“Bend, you DID say you wanted to get more of a feel for his skillset.”

Bend proceeded to grumble as he stole one of Dervish’s beers.

“Hey! Get your own six-pack!”

The Johnson meet was at a steakhouse. On the class rating of steakhouses that the team was used to, it was on the lower end; designer and formal suits were abandoned in favor of business casual, and classical music made way for country-western. It was the kind of establishment that featured an “eat six pounds of steak in one hour and you go on the wall” challenge (trolls need not apply).

As the team was led to the Johnson Party table by a chipper human girl wearing pigtails and a too-tight-to-be-classy blouse, Dervish made his intentions eminently clear:

“Guys. I’m doing the six-pound steak challenge.”

Wildcard playfully punched Dervish.

“Not during the Johnson meet. Giggles later.”

“Come on, I’m four hundred pounds of meat and suprathyroid. They won’t know what hit ‘em.”

Locke adjusted the buttons on his silk shirt and repeated Wildcard’s ultimatum.

“Not during the Johnson meet.”

Like a dejected child, Dervish kicked one of his wide-toed cyberfeet at the floor and grumbled.

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>>20950919

Johnson was a wiry elf with the calloused knuckles and chin scarring of a life lead hard. He apparently didn’t believe in obscuring one’s loyalties; the ugly tie he wore over his business-casual monkey suit seemed distinctly chosen for its garish use of red and green. Johnson was an obvious Ancient, through and through, which meant many things right out the bat. Johnson wasn’t professional, Johnson wasn’t classy, and Johnson would probably be okay with sloppy wetwork. Without even waiting for anyone to order food, Johnson opened up with his pitch:

“I need you to kill a troll and his friends.”

Without skipping a beat, Locke responded,

“How many friends?”

“At least two. Essentially, we want you to cripple a gang by killing all the movers and shakers.”

Dervish smiled despite himself, remembering a similar run so very long ago. Locke continued,

“Let’s hear a few more details before we talk price, Mr. Johnson. For all we know this troll could be ex-specops.”

“Try ex-con,” countered Johnson, putting up an AR image of a large troll with titanium dermal deposits and an absolutely massive, overmodified chrome cyberarm. “This is Curbstomp. Curbstomp was promised a cushy life if he stayed inside.”

Locke hazarded a guess,

“Curbstomp didn’t stay inside?”

“No, he didn't. He made some friends and now he’s in Puyallup, poaching our turf again.”

“So you want him and his friends taken care of.”

“Permanently.”

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>>20950945

“So who are these friends we’re hearing so much about?”

“We don’t have surveillance—only orcs and trolls are allowed into the gang’s compound—but we’ve heard rumors about a warboss—troll, mostly bioware, a real Frankenstein job—and a voodoo magician. Curbstomp apparently got in deep with some Haitians while he was on the Island and the houngan is their way of saying ‘thanks.’ “

“So we kill the boss, the warboss, and the houngan and we get paid?”

“And any other gangsters that you’d care to kill. There’s maybe fifteen other regulars, mixed orcs and trolls. If you impress me there’s always the chance of a bonus.”

“No offense, Mr. Johnson,” said Felix, leaning back in his chair, “but professionals don’t deal in chances.”

Johnson grimaced.

“Well, I do, and you can take it or leave it. Twenty thousand nuyen.”

“Try forty, mister Johnson. This is still wetwork, even if it’s ghetto trash. And with three powerful trolls I’m not liking our insurance.”

“Twenty thousand.”

Johnson’s hard face…hardened.

“You can at least do thirty. We do have lifestyles to uphold.”

“I know that this is way below your professionalism grade, which means you’re probably doing this as a test run of some kind and it’s not about the cash. Twenty k.”

And here I was about to make a Shadow Run general to talk about my new character ideas.

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>>20950981

“That doesn’t mean that we don’t like cash, Mr. Johnson. I’m going to have to move it up to thirty again.”

“Twenty and five up front.”

Locke looked around to see the rest of the team shrugging and looking complacent.

“Not my favorite figure, but it’ll do.”

Johnson and Locke shook hands, and Johnson stormed off, looking like he had other business to attend to.

Wildcard, Bend, and Locke all instinctively threw themselves to the floor and began reaching for their guns as festive music played in AR and streamers and confetti shot out of the ceiling. Two waitresses in branded T-shirts carried a platter with a truly preposterous steak over to the table and fastened a bib around Dervish’s neck.

As Dervish’s teammates picked themselves up from under the table, Dervish announced,

“Meeting adjourned.”

Thirty-two minutes-later, there was a large picture of Dervish, his face stained with steak sauce, smiling for the camera.

The name plate read “AMERICA-SAN.”

Wildcard asked, incredulously,

“Are you happy, Dervish?”

“Inordinately.”

Dervish gripped his stomach, moaning as he slumped into the back of Wildcard’s Turbocar.

“So,” asked Locke, “how are we thinking of going about this?”

Dervish responded, with a wide grin,

“Well, this is below our pay grade anyway, so I figure it won’t hurt to have some fun with it.”

Bend gave Dervish a sidelong glance.

“Define ‘fun.’ “

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>>20950877
>wetwork
>my face when

Yesss, shadowrun storytime.

Idle question: would having a character with a group contact defined as C24(6 base, +4 magic, +4 numbers, +6 spread, +4 matrix)/L6, and a stirrup interface, with the note that 'every other member of the group has a control rig and the access codes for my stirrup, and I have a control rig and access codes for theirs', be grounds for immediate 'NO' from a GM?

I'm trying to recreate Mars from A Miracle of Science in Shadowrun, see. Or at least a mars-like group.

Without involving bug spirits.

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>>20951003

“This is a terrible idea,” griped Locke, thumbing his binoculars as he and Wildcard sat atop the catwalks of an old, defunct Puyallup factory. “Why aren’t we leaving infiltration to the infiltrator?”

“They catch him, they kill him for being an elf,” rebutted Wildcard, “whereas Dervish is appropriate for the environment. Consider it a part of legwork.”

“We did enough legwork just paying off the trash around here to direct us to the Crushers’ hideout.”

Wildcard pushed his mask up on his face long enough to pop a cigarette into his mouth and light up, leaning over the railing.

“Patience, Moaning Minnie. We get Dervish in there, we get a long look at their facilities and personnel, yer?”

Locke sighed, paying careful attention to Dervish as the orc strolled fearlessly in bandana and armor jacket up to the scrap-metal gate of the compound.

“I guess. I think we could probably handle them anyway, trolls or no. Wait a minute, is that-“

Bend, the innocuous seagull flying above the compound, found himself in a cloud of toxic gas and held his breath. This was normal for Puyallup.

The fact that the gas followed and began giggling was less normal, but still believable for Puyallup.

“Smog spirit,” called a deep voice from within the compound. “Everyone load up!”

Bend cawed in fear and peeled away as the trolls below began emptying futile magazines into the cloud of gas where he had been. In a panic, he called up one of his Buddhist air spirits, which just contributed to the clusterfuck before the smog spirit exploded.

“And that,” said Wildcard, “is why we weren’t sending Bend in.”

>>20950992

Remember that this is also Shadowrun General! Storytime's about a little less than halfway done, by the by, and then I'll pop off for Pathfinder, although I can still respond to comments.

(Also, as usual, comments make the thread, so feel free to keep a running commentary!)

>>20951060

That's a little unorthodox, but not obvious minmaxery. What I'd ask is how okay you'd be with your GM controlling your character?

>>20951089

With a concept like that, I'd better be okay with it.

The issue is that, given the number of members, there's a high likelyhood at least one of them has 6 ranks and a specialty in... whatever skill we need at the time.

Infinite SKillwire Works, basically, via rigging.

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>>20951071

In part to draw attention away from his teammate’s gaffe, Dervish promptly slammed his fist on the gate. A small viewport slid open.

“Who are you supposed to be?”

“Kid, I’m supposed to be the baddest-ass trog this side of Puyallup. You don’t need to know why I’m here, just that I got services to offer to your boss Curbstomp.”

“Curbstomp don’t take no solicitors, bitch.”

“Call me bitch again, son.”

Dervish’s cyberblades slowly began sliding out of his fists and elbows. There was a minor commotion or argument behind the gate, and a much deeper voice growled,

“We were doing recruiting this week. Yer half as badass as you say you are, you get a chance. Reason why you so up to get into the boss’ good graces, trog?”

Dervish growled back,

“Cause katana-wielding Suzuki-riding dandelion eaters are moving on my hood, and I need backup to teach them to back the fuck off. We solid?”

After a pause, the door swung open, revealing an orc and a troll in a strange hybrid of military gear and barrens rags.

“Yeah. We solid. Just so happens we arming up to take on the elves. You do your part in the pit, you get your place in the gang.”

Dervish cocked an eyebrow.

“The pit?”

“The pit.”

Sitting up in their factory-roof hidey-hole, Locke, Wildcard, and Bend paused over their professional-grade surveillance tools and a pack of OrganoStyle popcorn.

“The pit?”

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>>20951110

Yeah, but every time you used your "skillwires" you'd owe someone a favor. That shit tallies up quick.

>>20951120

Dervish was ushered, alongside about twenty other young orcs and trolls who appeared to be housed somewhere else in the complex (from inside it turned out to be three ancient storefronts cobbled together with scrap and concrete barricades into a makeshift courtyard), into a concrete-floored basement. Pipes and rusted machinery ran along the ceiling and support pillars. Spattered patterns the off-brown of old blood ringed the room. A few dingy lightbulbs supplied murky light down onto a thick crowd of orcs and trolls, cheering on and making room for two trolls beating each other senseless in the center of the crowd.

At one end of the room were three makeshift “thrones” made out of broken machinery and car parts. In the center “throne” sat Curbstomp himself, looking on appraisingly as one of the two trolls finally grabbed hold of the other’s horns and smashed him face-first into the concrete wall. He was flanked by two other trolls. The troll on his right was dressed in a suit jacket over a bare chest with white skull-mask face paint, covered in fetishes. The troll on his left was a vatjob freak, his horns and dermal deposits replaced with superdense vatgrown bone, and his muscles corded and taut to action-figure specificity. These were, presumably, the targets.

Curbstomp stood up, and loudly announced,

“ALL NEW BLOOD RISE FOR WAR LEADER MADDEN!”

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>>20951154

The vatjob stepped forward as the room calmed down into a frenzied muttering. The bioborg announced,

“MY NAME’S MADDEN, BUT UNTIL YOU’RE IN THE GANG, YOU CAN CALL ME “BOSS.” I FIGURE YOU ALL CAME HERE, YOU KNOW WHAT INITIATION IS. SO GET TO IT. EVERYONE PICK OUT THE GUY YOU’RE FIGHTING. ONLY ONE OF YOU GETS TO JOIN THE GANG.”

The young gangers around Dervish all broke off and began making eye contact, occasionally pointing or shouting at someone that they thought they could take. Eventually everyone was paired off. Everyone except Dervish.

Dervish just stood and pointed at Madden.
The room went from energetic conversation to dead silence in a few seconds as everyone realized what had happened.

“Um, Dervish,” asked Bend, over the subvocals, “what the fuck are you doing?”

Dervish responded, simply,

“Having fun.”

Nostrils flaring, Madden stepped up to Dervish. His vatgrown eyeballs swiveled and focused on Dervish, dilated in rage and adrenaline.

“Who the fuck do you think you are, rookie?”

“Bitch, I don’t think, I KNOW. I’m Garrett from the Redmond fucking Barrens, and I’m not afraid of anything.”

Madden gritted his teeth and growled like a pitbull as Curbstomp, in the back of the room, burst out laughing.

“Shit, Madden, are you going to take that?”

Dervish danced back and forth, his cyberlegs flexing.

“You gonna take that, Madden? You gonna throw that punch?”

Back at the hidey-hole, a large buzzard carrying three Nukit Burger value meals with super-sized sodas in its talons transformed back into Bend, landing naked on the catwalk.

“Okay, I got the stuff. It started yet?”

Locke gestured wildly toward the vidscreen.

“It’s about to! It’s about to! Sit down!”

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>>20951180

>mood music, motherfuckers

http://youtu.be/2ucCIkFiROo

Madden threw the punch, and it came like a freight train. His synaptics blazing, Dervish tucked under Madden’s arm as it flew over his shoulder like a shotgun blast, smashing the rookie behind him into the crowd, trailing blood. Dervish spun underneath Madden’s shoulder and, utilizing his Sangre y Acero training (even if blades were a no-no for this match), planted an elbow right into Madden’s flank.

The crowd roared at the impact. Madden’s muscles were as dense as corded steel. It just so happened that Dervish’s bones were about twice as dense as that. The troll staggered. Adrenaline pumping, Dervish’s cybereye covers slid into place as he yelled,

“You’re mine now, bitch!”

With an animalistic roar, Madden spun, swinging his arm around in a brutal right hook. He moved faster than Dervish had anticipated, and Dervish caught the blow right in the chest, and then continued to catch the blow as Madden followed through with the punch, literally carrying Dervish another six feet before Dervish fell off of Madden’s fist and hit the ground. Madden followed up with a vicious stomp, but Dervish rolled out of the way. Madden laughed, happy to see Dervish flailing on the ground.

It didn’t last long, as Dervish rolled into a crouch, activated his skimmer discs, and promptly launched upward into a full body check to the troll’s center of mass. Madden staggered long enough for Dervish to reach up and grab the troll’s horns, before using the horns as leverage to lift his knee to Madden’s chin. The blow imbalanced the troll further, and Dervish hopped off to the cheering of the crowd as Madden smashed into the floor.

>>20951180
>my sides are moving on their own

Also, TwoDee, quick pair of questions:
1. Is there any reason why splash grenades filled with Cleaner Cleaner aren't standard issue for most runners? Given how effective they are at clearing out all DNA evidence and flesh trails in a 10-meter radius, you'd think they'd be more popular.
2. I'm making my first caster character--a hermetic mage dwarf. If I take a touch stun and a single-target stun, can I safely hold off on getting a direct damage spell until I've built some karma, or am I much better off getting one at start?

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>>20951242

Of course, the metahuman body can take a lot of punishment, especially an augged-up orc or troll. Dervish dropped back into his stance, legs bent and elbows up, as Madden loomed over him once more.

Madden swung both hands in a hammer strike. It was a bad move, especially as Dervish had positioned himself with a support pillar behind. As Madden struck the pillar, Dervish maneuvered in between Madden’s arms and landed four quick, brutal elbow strikes into the troll’s gut, knocking the wind out of him. Bloodied and bruised, Madden pulled his arms in to attempt a grapple, but Dervish ducked out of the way and landed a spinning right hook directly into Madden’s jaw, loosening his tusks and knocking a few teeth loose.

As the crowd whooped and cheered and Dervish’s teammates kept a running commentary, Curbstomp and his houngan looked at Dervish appraisingly.

Madden landed a few punches on Dervish, but they were less focused than before, and typically grazed rather than impacted, and Dervish was able to counterattack with more ferocity each time. Eventually Madden reared back, curling his arm in an extremely telegraphed haymaker. When he threw the punch, it smashed through one of the support pillars with enough force to total an engine block, and the ceiling shuddered dangerously.

However, Dervish was nowhere near ground zero of the punch. He was a good distance above it.

It's like a wrestling match gone horribly right between a Genetically-Engineered Andre the Giant and a Cybernetic Macho Man Randy Savage.

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>>20951287

1. Those aren't standard issue because the less conspicuous option would be to have your mage cast Sterilize. If your mage doesn't have Sterilize, ask him why he doesn't have Sterilize until he has Sterilize. For a team without a mage, though, that's a great idea.
2. You should be fine. Combat is a last resort unless you're playing Pink Mohawk anyhow.

>>20951294

Scaling the twelve-foot troll like a ladder, Dervish grabbed onto Madden’s horns once more, and flipped over his back, dragging the troll backward into an awkward limboing position. Before Madden could counterattack, however, Dervish activated his skimmer discs, overclocked his cyberlegs, and jumped, flipping back over Madden’s shoulders and carrying him bodily by the face, before ricocheting off the ceiling and riding his head straight down into the pavement. Teeth and chunks of concrete flew out into the crowd and a few orcs in the front row staggered with the impact. The cheering reached a deafening roar as Dervish stood up and kicked Madden’s limp body over. The troll was out cold.

“Five nuyen each, it was a minute and a half,” said Wildcard, sipping on his cola. Locke and Bend grumbled and tapped out transactions on their commlinks.

As Dervish cracked his neck and rubbed his muscles, Curbstomp stood and made his way for the circle, a wide grin on his face.

Throwing out his cybernetic hand, he chuckled,

“Welcome to the gang, Garret from the Redmond fucking Barrens.”

The houngan stepped forward to address the crowd.

“THIS DOESN’T MEAN ANY OF YOU ARE OFF THE CHAIN, MEAT! GET TO FIGHTING!”

The crowd roared.

>>20951154

Fair enough on the favors, but I feel like most GMs would dissallow it for some reason?

If not for that, than for a custom spell being cast and quickened on the group that basically has a group mind link going on for them all the time, on top of the real-life simsense sharing. me and a friend did the math, and you'd need, by standard detection spell ranges, a force 81 spell cast at magic 81 to cover the entire manasphere, and that's not, strictly speaking, impossible with enough spirits, and/or blood magic involved.

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>>20951364

The team watched through Dervish’s cybereyes as Curbstomp walked Dervish around the main building of the complex, a mildly-less-dilapidated affair that looked to once have been a motel.

“Voodoo boy’s Stahlman. Made friends in prison, he came out with me. Big guy that you trashed is Madden, he still ain’t woke up. Hulk is somewhere—“

With a ‘yeaaaaaaah,’ a teenage troll leapt from the rafters into an attempted tackle of Dervish, and instead ended up bouncing and rolling along the ground.

“That’s Hulk. He’s the village idiot.”

Hulk stood and brushed himself off. His face was pockmarked with acne, and his voice cracked awkwardly. It was rather disarming for a troll.

“One day I’ma be a shadowrunner!”

“Sure you will, Hulk.”

Curbstomp ran Dervish through a few more of the facilities: a rec room with trid, a makeshift gym, and a bunch of bedrooms.

“Figure since you damn near killed my lieutenant, you get a room to yourself. So long as you put those crazy moves to work on some Ancients pussies. After one more wave of recruitment, we’re gonna move on the local chapterhouse, slash and burn, you feel me?”

“Oh yeah, I feel you, Curbstomp,” grinned Dervish. “Ancients been on my shit list since before I was born.”

“Good to hear it,” said Curbstomp. “Dinner’s at seven. Hope you like fucking beans.”

Back at the hidey-hole, Locke and Wildcard armed up, loading armor-piercing rounds. Troll-killing rounds. Bend slipped into his chameleon suit, resigned.

“So we’re doing it tonight?”

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>>20951443

Wildcard nodded, the lenses on his mask flashing with color as his smartlink calibrated and connected to the tacnet.

“We got all the info we need. Floor plans, windows, entryways. And this is the best time to hit them, right when they’re all recovering from ‘recruiting.’ “

Locke grunted his agreement. He called up a Xiuhcoatl, his fire spirit.

“What’s the plan looking like, Wildcard?”

“Bend and you maintain silence spells on the team. Bend opens Dervish’s window, we take care of any curious guards. We get Dervish’s shotgun and armor through the window, Locke follows, and they do the killing. Bend, you’re backup, and I’ll watch from outside.”

“Pity it had to go this way,” commented Dervish, over the subvocals.

“Curbstomp made his choice. He isn’t blind to the repercussions, eh? So let’s make it quick and painless.”

As night fell on the compound, the mission began. With tactical monitoring from Wildcard, Bend and Locke slipped past the guard and scaled ten feet up to Dervish’s window, carrying Dervish’s armor. Under a spell of magical silence, they armed up and coordinated entirely by tacnet, entering Stahlman’s room first.

Stahlman had a spirit watching him, and it possessed his body to save its master. His eyes flew open, glowing with energy, as he shot flames at his two milspec-suited aggressors. It wasn’t enough, as Locke deftly counterspelled the effect, and then he and Dervish filled Stahlman with enough rapid-fire lead to leave the entire room perforated, bedfeathers and bits of plaster strewn haphazardly amongst the blood. All of this happened in mere seconds, in complete silence, before the team confirmed their kill and moved onto the next officer room.

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>>20951493

Madden was laying in bed, awake but crippled, wheezing through broken ribs. Although he could do nothing to prevent his fate, he mouthed “race traitor” in the silence when he spotted the shadowrunners, before Dervish elbowed him in the neck one last time, this time with a blade extended.

Curbstomp was next. Locke didn’t even give him the chance to wake up before coating him in gouts of magma. His screaming and frantic flailing went unheard, like a macabre slapstick comedy act from a silent movie. As both runners unloaded into his burning frame, he danced to the wall and lay still.

“There’s a little kid hiding above the staircase,” commented Dervish. “Don’t kill him, he’s done nothing wrong. Same with the new recruits, they’re being housed in the next building over. Rest of the core gang is in the building near to the gate. We position ourselves at the windows we can probably take them all out.”

“Roger,” commented Bend, gecko-gripping up to Hulk’s hiding place. Hulk was, mercifully, sleeping, although Bend hit him with narcoject just the same. “See, this is why I don’t like wetwork.”

Dervish asked,

“’Cause it’s nasty to look at?”

“Nah, because a lot of the time you get to know the mark first.”

“True that,” sighed Dervish,“ as the team converged on the barracks that housed the rest of the regulars, reloading. Wildcard perched himself by the outside window while Dervish and Locke took the inside ones.

“Here’s hoping the rookies get the picture and move onto something better.”

Bend countered, sarcastically,

“Like Shadowrunning?”

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>>20951531

“Still better’n offing a man for the point of his ears,” countered Wildcard, before opening up on the bunkbeds within. The room turned into a frenzy of flame and bullets in moments, and Locke and Dervish moved to bar the doors with debris from outside as the blaze grew amongst the crawling survivors.

In mopey silence, Dervish put his hand under the large, scrap-iron gate at the front of the compound, lifted it single-handedly, and led Locke and Bend outside. Wildcard returned to the car and started up the engine.

“Let’s go get drunk on Mr. Johnson’s money,” sighed Dervish.

Locke nodded.

“I’m down for that.”

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>>20951562

As if to remind the team that all was not dreariness and depression, their fat 5,000 nuyen paychecks came in right before Brianna McReary’s Christmas bash. It was a very large dinner party, especially once guests started getting invited. Brianna’s son Daniel and TwoDee’s “kids” Arianna and Tr1gg3r sat at the children’s table, playing with coloring books. The topic of the day was that Tr1gg3r was cheating, because he was able to download pictures from the internet and trace them directly with his mechanical hands. The tiny robot countered that his “sister” and Daniel were merely jealous. While TwoDee himself and his very pregnant wife bounced around the party, catching up with old friends (including a particular ghoul doctor in a hazmat suit), Geppetto showed up only very briefly with mob maven Rowena O’Malley on his arm and an escort of black-suited bodyguards, made very distant greetings, and proceeded to handle some order of business by commlink, periodically daubing at his leaking eye socket with a silk handkerchief.

Wildcard took Doctor Greene to the party as a date, and the two of them shared sarcastic faux-intellectual gifts (a limited edition “operation” game for Greene, and a tiny Malibu Barbie sedan with a souped-up electric engine and a disposable commlink in the trunk for Wildcard). Wildcard also got to exchange gifts with his former fixer, Luca (a home cooking set for a nickel-plated Predator), and his old partner Belfast (more decorative masks, both ways), although only Luca could make the party (Belfast being on contracted work during the holidays).

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>>20951585

Dervish formally invited Sensei, and although he managed to get the old coot to dress up in a suit, he couldn’t convince him to shave.
Sensei spent most of the evening grumbling about how he never liked the shadow community because it was so “fixated on appearances,” but he lightened up once Brianna had convinced him to have some wine, and especially when Dervish showed him his Christmas gift, a pair of wicked katars fashioned after sharks’ teeth.

Locke brought absolutely no one, and proceeded to mope around the party getting increasingly drunker because he didn’t know anybody. When the party games started, though, Geppetto didn’t care to reprise his role on “the team,” allowing Locke a fair degree of fun.

Bend brought Emily, although Emily spent most of the evening being intimidated out of socializing by the likes of Geppetto, Sensei, and John the Ghoul. The evening was, however, livened up when he opened an anonymous gift to reveal an armed pipe bomb wrapped in a ribbon and bow, which he, TwoDee, and Wildcard promptly scrambled to disarm. When the ticking stopped, a card fell out of the gift, flitting to the floor. Bend picked it up.

“JUST MAKING SURE MY FAVORITE AGENT HASN’T GOTTEN SLOW
MERRY CHRISTMAS
--FORMICK”

Bend blanched at the card. TwoDee poked at him, angry that he’d had to put down his wine to defuse a bomb.

“Hey, asshole, what’s the deal? You trying to kill us?”

“Hardly,” said Bend. “Jordan Formick was my commanding officer back when I was a spy.”

>SHADOWRUN STORYTIME 17/END

>>20951585
>daubing at his leaking eye socket

Fuck, that James Bond villain thing earlier just clicked. I never made that connection even when Geppetto's eye was a new thing.

Dangit, now I have to go watch Casino Royale again.

Question. Does anyone else think the rules for forging fake SINs are a bit... much? Licenses are about where I'd put them, same with most others, but on average it'd take... like, eight months for an EXPERT to make a fake SIN.

>>20951401

Just improbable.

>>20951625

Awesome.

Has there ever really been a heap written up on Shapechangers? Like a good list of Countries that give them citizenship?

I'm working on a Dire Wolf Shapeshifter from China and was hoping there was more on them than just in Runners Companion.

I'm aware they are not human, which I'm trying to tie into them. They don't consider themselves human but still a wolf. A Wolf Xia.

Who needs heroin when you have Shadowrun Storytime! Awesome as always Twodee.

On a more shadowrun general related note: Would a funeral director have any points in medicine or first aid?

>>20952728

I'd say so. Not a heap.

If not...perhaps Knowledge skills in anatomy?

Awesome story as usual TwoDee loved the party especially.

Gonna tool up that new character now and dump it here for people to gander over.

Considering how I had a very positive reaction to my Spetsnaz runner a few weeks ago I am hoping people like this one.

TwoDee, I just want to say that I've spent a lot of time on sup/tg/, and these are the some of the best stories I've ever read. The only thing that compares in my mind is Old Man Henderson.

>>20952320

Actually, on that topic, are there any books that really cover what the NAN is like? Having read through the Biodrone section of Running Wild...it looks like my Wolf Xia will have a serious dislike of them with what they do to animals to make their kill drones.

Would a pet dog viable reason to have the 'dependant' quality for 5 bp? Just curious...

>>20954379
I would saaaaaaaay no.
Its a freaking dog.

I have a question for 2D relating to me working on this new character idea.

1) What is more viable for a completely off-site hacker character? Technomancer or normal hacker? (Just hacking, no rigging)

2) Recommendations for important bits of gear or skills needed for effective off-site hacking? I know I need a high signal but that's about it.

File: 1349150928009.png-(316 KB, 569x612, TearsFlowingOut.png)

It's...beautiful

>>20954379

I'd allow it. A 5bp dependent character is a dude who visits you occasionally and requires your personally invested time occasionally. A dog is a huge responsibility to take care of on your own.

>>20954896
Have you ever owned a dog? It's something you have to spend money feeding, keeping in good health and have at least a middle lifestyle to even keep if it's a big one.

>>20955069
It's not so much the dog as it is a pet rather than an "true" dependant like a child, elderly mother or friend with a bad drug habit.

Can I get 5 BP for having my character own a fish tank full of gold fish?

>>20955092

Do you care for those goldfish? Do you take a reasonable ammount of time out of your shadowrunning life to care for them? Are you spending a fairly hefty ammount of money to keep those fish alive. Then yes.

Dependant Is reflective of how dependant that someone is on you and how invested you are on being there for them.

>>20955166
I think that 5BP for having a pet is a but much no matter how hard you justify it.

That being said I gave myself 5BP for having a mild allergy to peanuts.

>>20955332

You can get 5 bp from having to take a swig of alcohol a week. Personally I dont find it to much and it's ultimately going to come down to the dudes gm. But I honestly can say taking care of a pet in a line of work like shadowrunning would take some serious dedication of both time and money.

>>20955332

My current character has 10 for being slightly allergic to soy. It's not come up much...but it could and it would be very unpleasant when it does.

>>20954896
Bump for this question, open to anyone.

>>20956252
More bumps

>>20956252

A technomancer is better if you want to focus on just hacking without doing anything else, because he can stack his complex forms higher than any program can be.

The only seriously necessary long-range piece of gear that I can think of is a satellite uplink. Get an infiltrator to plug that in, and you can hack from anywhere.

>>20956345
>A technomancer is better if you want to focus on just hacking without doing anything else, because he can stack his complex forms higher than any program can be.
>The only seriously necessary long-range piece of gear that I can think of is a satellite uplink. Get an infiltrator to plug that in, and you can hack from anywhere.

And some good ECCM for the uplink.

I keep reading through the rules in SR4's book, and my brain shuts down every time I get to the magic section. Is there a simplified way to look at spirits and spells somewhere? VR I think I've managed to understand, but with the interactions between spirits, spells, and mages I start losing focus.

>>20956345
Yay! You're back!

My current idea is basically a weedy human nerd who accidentally gets into "running" after posting that he is looking for a job on a Runners board he accidentally got into. Maybe JackPoint! because its the only one I know.

The guy is actually just a lazy ass 18 y.o technomancer/hacker who plays a Fantasy MMO RPG all day every day and spends time hacking his way into various forums and chat sites, which is how he stumbled across a runners job.

See his mother is an elf and his deadbeat dad is a human; who fucked his mother got her pregnant and walked out when he was 2. Now we know the way cross metahumanity children work and he came out human; like dear old deadbeat dad and now he is older he hates that shit. He wants to be an elf so badly to be less like that jerk off and more like nice caring mummy. He went to an all elf school, getting in by virtue of his mother being a friend of the principal and was picked on there on a regular basis for his "lower born race".

TBC!

>>20956732
When he was 14 he started playing this MMO RPG (Dawnscape: The Fantasy MMO and its subsequent expansions, Dawnscape: New Dawn, Dawnscape: Everafter and the recently released Dawnscape: Dark Depths) where in the players create an avatar in their likeness and pick from: Dwarf, Gnome, Human, Elf or Bear-person (called Ursine in game; with the expansions adding Froggits the frog-people and Elephons the elephant-people). Together the players must forge alliances between their races to face the dark and evil Draconic overlords and their Orc, Troll and undead minions of doom and prevent them from taking over the world. In this world he can be an Elf, he can be what he wants; so much so that he eventually starts to dissociate his own "real self" for his avatar.

I have some pretty fun ideas for the dark background and true nature of Dawnscape (it self a parody of MMO's with most influences from the Guild Wars serial and of course World of Warcraft) as well as the guys way of dealing with people (himself being a parody of the stereotypical MMO player).

I picture him playing as a more or less offsite hacker who lives in his mothers basement and hands out handmade often junky wireless uplinks and dodgy self-made skillsofts to his team to allow him to provide support while sitting in his beanbag at home.

>>20956483
http://pavao.org/shadowrun/cheatsheets/SR4Indirect.pdf

http://pavao.org/shadowrun/cheatsheets/SR4Spellcasting.pdf

http://pavao.org/shadowrun/cheatsheets/SR4Summoning.pdf

http://pavao.org/shadowrun/cheatsheets/SR4SpiritRef.pdf

Yay cheatsheets

>>20956748
>When he was 14 he started playing this MMO RPG (Dawnscape: The Fantasy MMO and its subsequent expansions, Dawnscape: New Dawn, Dawnscape: Everafter and the recently released Dawnscape: Dark Depths) where in the players create an avatar in their likeness and pick from: Dwarf, Gnome, Human, Elf or Bear-person (called Ursine in game; with the expansions adding Froggits the frog-people and Elephons the elephant-people). Together the players must forge alliances between their races to face the dark and evil Draconic overlords and their Orc, Troll and undead minions of doom and prevent them from taking over the world. In this world he can be an Elf, he can be what he wants; so much so that he eventually starts to dissociate his own "real self" for his avatar.
>I have some pretty fun ideas for the dark background and true nature of Dawnscape (it self a parody of MMO's with most influences from the Guild Wars serial and of course World of Warcraft) as well as the guys way of dealing with people (himself being a parody of the stereotypical MMO player).
>I picture him playing as a more or less offsite hacker who lives in his mothers basement and hands out handmade often junky wireless uplinks and dodgy self-made skillsofts to his team to allow him to provide support while sitting in his beanbag at home.

Are you hitler? Have some strain of Internet transferable STD? Maybe made of bees?

Seriously, why haven't you been picked up for a game yet?!?

>>20956827

Because I am Australian.

Or if you are being sarcastic
....
I got nothing.

>>20956890
Did that without the name.

>>20956827
Also I have recently discovered I have Beeitus. It means I am made of bees. You appear to be correct sir.

>>20956890

No... No, I was being completely serious and I understand that pain just as deeply (Australian as well).

>>20956958
>beeitus

HE'S AN INSECT SPIRIT! KILL IT!

>>20957042
Still working on an idea for an Insect Spirit character.

TBH I don't think there is a way to do one because of FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU BEES TAKING OVER MY BRAIN
Shit that will happen.

Hmmm a Bee Insect Shaman.

Hmmmmmmmmm

>>20957071

Not really worth it unless you're going for an antagonist, all insects are bloody insane. Made a reasonable Toxic Mage once that could pass for a viable runner but even I wouldn't have been able to pass up that 1 mill bounty

>>20957087
I know.

Also I suck at making mages.

Teaching my self to make a hacker ATM which is what my guy here is all about.

>>20956795

>>20956483 here
I actually just flat-out don't understand the astral plane as it relates to Shadowrun. It's things like "what exactly IS a mentor spirit?" and "are spirits of ____ needed to cast a spell?"

>>20957087

I've got a couple of Blood Mage ideas myself. Some are nice people...others not so much.

But even the worst of them (Ouroboros, a Gorgon SURGED Mystic Adept who uses blood magic to basically allow her to pull off Area Petrification spells) are never cackling villains.

I've another character I'm looking at (Mentioned earlier in the thread) who is a Wolf Shapeshifter...and I keep looking at Cannibalism (The power) and going 'that would be very very cool to have...if it didn't make me instantly have a 1 million bounty on my head'. If it wasn't for 'I eat people'...which, honestly, is not exactly evil for a wolf the would be a very moral runner.

But yeah, is there a reason that non-blood spirit blood magic is...so evil? Or do people just hate it because it's icky and blood spirits are bad?

>>20957160
>I've got a couple of Blood Mage ideas myself. Some are nice people...others not so much.
>But even the worst of them (Ouroboros, a Gorgon SURGED Mystic Adept who uses blood magic to basically allow her to pull off Area Petrification spells) are never cackling villains.
>I've another character I'm looking at (Mentioned earlier in the thread) who is a Wolf Shapeshifter...and I keep looking at Cannibalism (The power) and going 'that would be very very cool to have...if it didn't make me instantly have a 1 million bounty on my head'. If it wasn't for 'I eat people'...which, honestly, is not exactly evil for a wolf the would be a very moral runner.
>But yeah, is there a reason that non-blood spirit blood magic is...so evil? Or do people just hate it because it's icky and blood spirits are bad?

Blood magic's bounty isn't so much "It's evil so we kill you!" It's more along the lines of:

"You can do blood magic? Aztecs all over that shit! We can sell you for a shitload of money!"

Because If I remember correctly, the blood magic bounty requires they be brought in alive.

The evil dogma mostly comes from the fact you're directly perverting sentient beings (spirits) into wrath and blood-lust filled monsters of unspeakable power.

>>20957154

>I actually just flat-out don't understand the astral plane as it relates to Shadowrun

The astral plane is basically an overlay to reality where only magic can access.

>what exactly IS a mentor spirit?

A mentor spirit is...a concept a much as a spirit. It's a hugeass spirit who represents an archtype or concept...and you have chosen to follow their archetype or concept. In return, they give you power.

For example, Amaterasu is the Shinto Goddess of the Sun. For my Shinto Mage runner, she is her Mentor Spirit. The Sun is the one that fits Amaterasu best, so that's what I picked. In universe, Amaterasu is watching over my mage...just a little.

>are spirits of ____ needed to cast a spell?

No. Spirits and spells are not generally related. You can be a caster who never summons a spirit and is in fact incapable of doing such. On the other hand, you could be the aforementioned Miko...who can barely cast but can call on huge spirits.

Spells and Spirits are two (Mostly) unrelated things that mages can do.

>>20957173
>The evil dogma mostly comes from the fact you're directly perverting sentient beings (spirits) into wrath and blood-lust filled monsters of unspeakable power.

That's part of why I was asking. Neither of the characters I have that I was hoping to use it for summon blood spirits.

Ouroboros uses it the classic way, slicing up a guard with a monofiliment whip and channeling his blood into power to fuel her spels.

Hǎng is a wolf. She eats things and gets more powerful. She's an adept where I'm looking at the Cannibalism power. It's not even really cannibalism. She's not genetically, astrally or mentally a human.

>>20957197
Fairly sure blood magic needs something to be alive to work.

As in sacrificing a living being to get your powers on.

Fun question time fellow runners (or in my case a wanna be runner sadface.jpg)

What do you want to see from me next:

>Some background on Dawnscape and why that shit is evil yo
OR
>Some character sheet for my Dawscape playing, technomancing dude

>>20957197
>that I was hoping to use it for summon blood spirits.
>Ouroboros uses it the classic way, slicing up a guard with a monofiliment whip and channeling his blood into power to fuel her spels.
>Hǎng is a wolf. She eats things and gets more powerful. She's an adept where I'm looking

Cannibalism would require you to devour wolves, I think.

Also it's straight up explained on pg 136 of Street Magic. It's the same reason why anyone is seen as evil, it's perception.

>>20957227

Dawnscape's underbelly get's my vote

>>20957234
Two things to go with this guys post.

You could look at Cannibalism two ways.
One is having an Awakened Wolf who has the Cannibalism Quality (isn't it?) to simulate their eating of anything and everything now they are bigger, metahumans inc.

OR

You could make the character a SURGED metahuman w/ Loup Garou infection (though thats a bit weird, can you even get HMHVV as a SURGED person?)

>>20957234

Cannibalism(The power) requires you to just damage living things. You don't even technically need to eat them. Biting is just an easy way for a wolf to damage people.

Ok, thanks. I'd missed that somehow. So it would be possible for them to just go 'Yeah, I eat humans, what of it? I'm a wolf...we kind do that'. It doesn't have to be some evil (Objectively) deed.

Yeah, thanks.

>>20957260

In this case, it's a Wolf Shapeshifter. They are a wolf who turns into a person with the Cannibalism Adept Power.

...I might end up avoiding it though, just to avoid the clusterfuck that will likely surround that. That and I guess a Wolf who is trying to be a Xia might swear off eating sentient beings.

>>20957251
Considering how small the runner community on /tg/ is right now I will assume yours is the only vote to matter.

Some on the spot underbelly info incoming!

Please be aware that some of the finer details like the date and company who own it are just gonna be filled in as XXXXXXXXX until I think of real things to put in there.

>>20957267

Yeah... you could pull that, and the moment you did I'd cage your lupine ass and ship you off for Aztec for every penny.

If you play an insect/toxic/blood mage you're pretty much a big walking wallet.

>>20957312
Thing is that it wouldn't exactly be easy to detect that the Wolf Shapeshifter Adept is using Cannibalize metamagic, as all it does is increase your physical stats based on the damage you deal with melee attacks (up to augmented maximum). You're probably already biting and clawing enemies already and are using magic, your runner buddies are probably going to think it's just regular magic you're using making you stronger, tougher, and faster in a fight. I think it's a great idea and if I were running the game I'd totally allow it.

Sorry my dinner just cooked so I will post some of what I have for now and get the rest later.
I am sure you will be able to pick up on a few things though, its not so subtle.

>Dawnscape: The Fantasy MMO of the 6th World

Dawnscape first hit the market in 20XX after a years long lead up of big promotions at conventions, viral marketing, developer interviews and general fan hype on message boards across the Matrix. It is the biggest MMO RPG in the world with amazing features such as:
>Facial copy technology
To let YOU be in the game

>Top Account Security
All your subscriber data is stored on YOUR comlink, locked to YOUR SIN and has the option of being locked to YOUR facial scans. So that the only way someone could hack your account is by being you.

>5 Amazing, lifelike playable races
Dwarves: The short-but-tough weapons smiths and miners.
Gnomes: The midget race bound by their gods to protect the gate to the Darkest Depths of the world. They live in shadow but are creatures of good!
Elves: The paragons of Dawnscape. Leaders of the grand Alliance of Natures and friend to all good races.
Humans: Formerly leaders of the world until the rise of the Elvish people. Centuries ago the last human King surrendered his crown the the Elvish Prince and joined them in their Alliance.
Ursine: The bear people from the deep forests to the east. Comes in black, brown, polar or panda skins.
(Disclaimer: Any similarities to beings living, or dead, is purely coincidental. Dawnscape is a fantasy role-playing game with no grounding in the real world.)

>Fight the RIGHTEOUS Fight
The evil Draconic Overlord Dalboz has awoken from his 1000 year slumber and returns to the world to devour it once more. Only you, the heroes, can stop him. Fight amazingly detailed enemies ranging from an oversized rodent to a battle hungry Orc to a club weilding Giant all the way to the dragon it self. All based on famous works including J.R.R Tolkien, H.P Lovecraft and other famous authors of the 5th world; the age of fantasy writing. (Disclaimer: Any similarities to beings living, or dead, is purely coincidental. Dawnscape is a fantasy role-playing game with no grounding in the real world.)

>No levels all YOU
The game is totally skill based, the more time you spend playing the better your character gets at something. Want to be a warrior with a sword and shield? Pick them up and get swinging. Feel too weak? Have your character do some exercises and get strong. Live a second fantasy life in Dawnscape.

>Biofeedback technology
Feel the force as you smash that Troll with your mace. Feel the heat as fire courses around you in the volcano. Get an arm cut off? Well you won't feel that, we limit it so nothing more then a dull pain is felt. FEEL THE WORLD! (Warning: Biofeedback maybe harmful to people with heart conditions, people suppectable to heart stroke, pregnant women, young children, people over the age of 50, overweight people, underweight people.........blahblahblah)

>>20957326
>Thing is that it wouldn't exactly be easy to detect that the Wolf Shapeshifter Adept is using Cannibalize metamagic, as all it does is increase your physical stats based on the damage you deal with melee attacks (up to augmented maximum). You're probably already biting and clawing enemies already and are using magic, your runner buddies are probably going to think it's just regular magic you're using making you stronger, tougher, and faster in a fight. I think it's a great idea and if I were running the game I'd totally allow it.

Using blood magic marks your aura dude. Same way you can tell if someone's a twisted, toxic or insect. One quick assense and you'd be picked out as something of an anathema

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>>20957350
>Thing is that it wouldn't exactly be easy to detect that the Wolf Shapeshifter Adept is using Cannibalize metamagic, as all it does is increase your physical stats based on the damage you deal with melee attacks (up to augmented maximum). You're probably already biting and clawing enemies already and are using magic, your runner buddies are probably going to think it's just regular magic you're using making you stronger, tougher, and faster in a fight. I think it's a great idea and if I were running the game I'd totally allow it.

Doesn't show up there at all.

>>20957365

Whoops. Meant to quote:

>Using blood magic marks your aura dude. Same way you can tell if someone's a twisted, toxic or insect. One quick assense and you'd be picked out as something of an anathema

>>20957350
>>20957365
>>20957369
You're kind of fucked in that situation blood magic or not.

And like I said, if I was running the game, it would be legit. It's very much up to your GM whether it is there as well.

>>20957369

I stand corrected. Apparently it's only insects and toxics who's astral signatures that get distorted.

>>20957388

Ok. Well, I'll ask when I find a game for them. Damn Aussie timezones. Such is life.

>>20952320
Quebec basically made anyone/thing that speaks French a citizen. So... speak French!

>>20957829

Heh, ok. Not sure I'm going to have the knowledge points to manage 3 languages and some actual interests on a Logic 1 character...but if I can get at least 1 rank there, it would allow me to bullshit along wth fake SINS from there.

>>20957346
>>20957348
Dinner consumed.
Dictator Watched. Good movie laughed all the way through it.

So anyone starting to see what maybe happening with this video game that my new character plays nonstop?

>>20957852

Anti-Ork and Troll Propaganda? Or personal info gathering?

Possibly both.

>>20957873
Getting there yeeeees.

Now lets figure out where the company who makes this game is based.

And by extension which government has their hand in this cookie jar.

>>20957885

Gee...I'm guessing the Tir that still has it's head so far it's ass it's pointy ears are poking it's gut?

>>20957899
Indeed those bloody Irish flower-eaters.

So I have a wannabe-elf with some serious social issues who has an addiction to an online video game made to create elf sympathy and goblinised metahuman hate.

Personally I think this is a pretty fun sounding character already!

>>20957955

Sounds like a very fun concept. I'm still working on the mental side of that Wolf Shapeshifter myself (Especially since I didn't want to make generically from the NAN).

So far I'm going with a person who...is honestly not really sure what they are. Are they a Wolf who can take the form of a human...or are they are a wolf who can become human. The difference is slight...but it brings in the concept of to what race their soul belongs...and which one they are supposed to be.

So they have latched onto the concept of the Xia. The wandering warrior. It's something concrete they can be without having to ponder a lot of the hard questions about humanity and that junk. They can just be a wandering warrior, renting out their blades and fangs to worthy causes.

>>20957999
And those worthy causes are decided by who pays the most?

How far will your runner make it if he ends up working for one company then screwing them over the next run.

>>20958065

Payment is not a non-issue. After all, debts must be paid. (They have near-max In Debt thanks to 'I'm a wolf, do you think they teach fucking fiscal responsibility in a den?')

However, they are still idealistic. They will likely get it beaten out of them but for the moment they would rather not take some of the darker tasks. They have zero issue with killing and in fact enjoy fighting...but don't like the concept of wetwork, especially against those who can't fight back. Kill a gang leader? Sounds fine/fun. Kill a paper pusher? There is no honor in that.

They are not exactly a clever person.

>>20958140
>And those worthy causes are decided by who pays the most?
>How far will your runner make it if he ends up working for one company then screwing them over the next run.

If you're honestly keeping the wolf mind, why would you care about honour?

Wolves attack the weakest prey they can find, hunt in packs?

I mean no direspect when I say this, but it's verging very close to weeabo territory

>>20958177

>hunt in packs and often ditch their own kind if the fall behind.

>>20958177

It's the Xia part they have latched onto, not the wolf part where the idea of honor is from. It's a very not-wolf concept, yeah, they are actively trying to be something they are not used to being.

I don't think I'm very good at phrasing it but the idea was more or less 'Am I supposed to be a wolf or a human? I'm not honestly sure at this point...but nothing about being a Xia says I have can't be a wolf or have to be human...so fuck it, third option'

It's more or less an internal excuse to not have to think about the complex questions.

>>20958140
>All that

Now see that is not what I think a shapshifter wolf would be like.

First off Shapeshifters are human level intelligence. And a player character one would have been around long enough to pick up on his local surrounding customs and language.

Now as out other friend Anon said I don't think wolves really care for honour.

2 ideas from me to help you get a propper wolf like character.

First off pick what kind of wolf your shapeshifter is: a red wolf, grey wolf or eastern wolf. Next wikipedia that shit and look at behavioural patterns. Consider how they behave in family groups, when hunting and all that jazz.

Next once you have picked your wolf pick where they have come from. Grab that 6th World Almanac each runner should own and read up on that areas customs. Wiki that shit as well if you want. Find local customs, languages and that.

Now you find a way to mesh those concepts of custom and behaviour together and add some human spice that you feel makes your characters FUN (key letters there F U N).

Badabing badaboom you have a wolf shapeshifter with solid personality, custom and behavioural pasterns grounding.

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This is the first Shadow Run Story Time I have been online for. I have read your previous work, and I must say, you are a gentleman and a scholar.

File: 1349182104596.gif-(414 KB, 500x280, We approve.gif)

>>20958295

You're good...

Also, being a fellow aussie, I'm curious; what state are you from?

>>20958295

I did kinda look at that. I actually started with the idea when I was reading about the Battle of White Wolf Mountain with the Three Kingdoms and I got the idea of a Chinese Wolf Shapeshifter.

I was going to do with a Tibetan Wolf. They tend to hunt singly or in pairs, not large packs. The Xia part came when I read that they kill yaks and horses a lot more than you would expect for their relative sizes, as the Tibetan wolf isn't a huge one. It seemed like an interesting swap over, from larger prey as a wolf to more dangerous targets as a shapeshifter.

FUCKING HELL YES WOOHOO OH MY WORD YES YES YES FINALLY AWWWW YEAH!!!

>>20958355
Thanks man. I don't think I'm that good at characters TBH; its just something about SR that gets me involved and engaged; I don't think I do anything different to normal players.
I have tried to be original and fun with my 40K RPG characters but I always just default to making bland shit. I think the real world grounding helps.
My first DnD character (and only) was an Avenger of the Raven Goddess who was more or less the Grim Reaper (complete with thin, malnourished appearance; pale complection; a scythe for normals and a sword for important people, blue glowing eyes, a hollow voice and a white horse named Binky. Characters name was Bill Door....) people just didn't get it.

My state? I am just a soon to be graduate engineer from Queensland. Nothing special.

>>20958392
I think you need to change your underwear chummer

>>20958356

Did some reading, I retract my weeaboo comment, the wandering warrior sounds very in line with how they hunt.

Still not big on the whole honour thing but it makes a bit more sense now.

>>20958425

Eh, I'm not huge on it myself. I must admit, it's a bit because I just like the idea of them trying to better them self, to become a bit more than 'just' a wolf shapeshifter.

It could easily be discarded without real loss.

>>20958403

Ahh... Dirty Queenslander!
I'm from NSW's so I'm obligated to have a vendetta against you. You win the origin too much!!!

>>20958447
>>20958403

Person making the Wolf here. I'm not sure which of you I'll legally required to hate. Born in NSW, living in Brisbane.

>>20958439

These wolves love to hunt large prey... Why not have a desire to take down a dragon. Assert yourself as a pack leader of your small shadowrunning team, work your way up and take down the biggest game their is.

>>20958464

You flip a coin!

>>20958447
>implying a guy on /tg/ cares about handegg

fuck handegg

I am a soccer and hockey fan.

And /tg/ fan of course. Bloooodboooowl.

>>20958506

Edge...

I don't give a fuck I guess?

Never really cared about State of Origin anyway.

>>20958499
Actually the hunting large prey is so that they may ensure there is enough food for all wolves involved for the minimal amount of energy expenditure.

Honestly I would expect them to either get no enjoyment from it or hate it outright. If its bigger than you it can kill you.

>>20958549
>Actually the hunting large prey is so that they may ensure there is enough food for all wolves involved for the minimal amount of energy expenditure.
>Honestly I would expect them to either get no enjoyment from it or hate it outright. If its bigger than you it can kill you.

Pacifist quality?

>>20958499

>Why not have a desire to take down a dragon.

This cannot end badly!

>>20958564
>>Why not have a desire to take down a dragon.
>This cannot end badly!

It may not end well... but it would end magnificently!

>>20958554

Sounds more 'Efficient' than pacifist. Don't kill those you don't need to, don't be stupid about it because that could get you killed.

Though, this is ignoring any personal traits. It could be quite possible for them to be hyped up on a bigger regenerating body. After all, they fear what can kill them...but nothing but magic and silver can kill them now...

>>20958554
No.
Killing = food
Food = Important

Maybe that should be your connection as to why you started running. It was logical, as a wolf you hunt to eat and live. As a human why not hunt to eat and live?

>>20958574
Indeed nothing but magic and silver
And bullets
And swords
And drones
And explosives
And cars hitting you
And trolls falling on you
And Azzies with a mean streak
And Lone Star cops who shoot first
And that gannger around the corner because you are walking around unarmed looking dumb

>>20958595

>Long list of things

Well...yeah. I was more going with the mindset than literally 'only this can kill you'. Someone who discovers they can heal from anything that isn't magic or silver could very easily get a feeling of unkillability.

>>20958615
>Well...yeah. I was more going with the mindset than literally 'only this can kill you'. Someone who discovers they can heal from anything that isn't magic or silver could very easily get a feeling of unkillability.

Didn't you mention somewhere this character has like a logic of 1? If that's the case, then yeah. I can see this wolf-lady thinking that

>>20958644

Yeah. Logic one. They were not a smart wolf, they are really not a smart person. Doesn't help that wolves don't tend to go to school.

The idea was for them to slowly improve it as they go along, due to the whole 'Self Improvement' bit that came with the Xia idea. Slowly work some stuff out, get more sense and knowledge. That sort of stuff.

>>20958663
"Psssh I got this, I will jump under this getaway car, regenerate the scrapes I get and punch my way into the car full of gun toteing gangsters and kill them all!"

>>20958663

Code of conduct: Bushido would work well with that.

I should know, my main enemy is a Bushido samurai I blasted in the face with a white phosphorus grenade...

>>20958678
"FACE ME IN HONOURABLE COMBAT HERE IN THIS OPEN SPACE"

Kay, throws nade.

You did the right thing man.

>>20958672

This is a flawless plan!

*Ten minutes later*

Oww...medic...how was I to know that hood ornament was actual silver...oww

>>20958689
>Hood ornament
>Jump under the car
>Hood ornament under the car

Wat.

>>20958911

I was going more for 'Jump at car, screw up, bounce over the top after getting hit'

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General SR Art Bump for more SR general talk.

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ALSO I CANT BELIEVE I FORGOT THIS POST IN A SHADOWRUN STORY TIME THREAD


SHADOWMEATS YOU MUST RETURN AND PROVIDE BUBBLES WITH LOVE ATTENTION AND MORE JUICY STORIES

Hey everyone, a little late to the comment party (damn I've been busy) but thanks for all of the compliments. They really do mean a lot to me. Incidentally the first session of the Pathfinder campaign went swimmingly; if it turns out well I'll storytime it and my on-and-off Shadowrun netgame, too.