Shadowrun
Shadowrun General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Fortinbras on <02-02-11/1757:20>
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My runners are going to be headed to LA next session in our Emergence campaign, so I broke out my old copy of Cal Free to get some history.
It said that LA was such a hotbed of magical who-do that casting there is unpredictable and gives a table for casting magic there similar to the Mana Surge table in Street Magic.
In Corporate Enclaves it says that the magical instability in LA has only gotten worse sense.
Has anyone else played around with this mana surge in LA and, if so, is there a reason they left out a similar table in Enclaves?
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LA is a cool and happening place if you can breath under water. I think it was LA had a huge Alcera (magical geography change) event which sunk most of the city. I ran a group there for a couple missions, but they didn't like having to deal with all the water.
I like the idea, but I can't get my runners back there (voluntarily). I think it is in the Corporate Enclaves sourcebook. Check it out.
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My runners already did a little running in LA earlier in the campaign.
During Hot Property they took Gunn to the Ares meet in a stolen speed boat and had a boat v. helicopter fight with DocWagon across the Lacuna.
I'm looking more for any experience with the great mana surge that was present in Cal Free and if it's still a thing in LA.cc
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No I don't have any good advice about that. I would say that you should gauge it based on the awakened players in your group. If you have a lot of awakened players I would give the Mana Surges a reason and use it as a potential "GM Hammer" to keep things interesting. If you have No Awakened players then you should use Mana Surges for their Ooo and Ahh factor on the story.
When I have use Mana Ebb it was because of Chicago Bug City and some Toxic areas I made up in the PCC/Ute nation. It is very drastic and definitely changes the scale of the game. The players need to bring more firepower to bear if they are working against a mana ebb.
Good luck gaming!
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My current campaign is in LA. We are in the 3rd mission so far in an alternative (non runner focused) campaign. LA is discussed in depth in Corporate Havens.
Things to keep in mind about LA---flashy is good. Horizon rulez, and most of East LA is underwater. UC Berkly and Cal Tech still go after each other, and the Azzies are not that far away. Also there is an uber maze of alchera tunnels underneath LA.
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To answer the original question, I think that with the whole emphasis on Horizon revitalizing the city, it lessened the focus on its crazy magic. There are other theories, like maybe that's where the Laguna came from, or that part of PCC taking over LA was bringing house mages and shamans to try and stabilize the area so business could get done.
As such, I'd probably take the tables given and tweak them a bit for how much you think that it may have changed.