Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Gamemasters' Lounge => Topic started by: Crash_00 on <07-27-11/1514:30>
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I'm working on a Knight Errant Fanbook and was looking for input from other GMs on what you'd like to see in it. It's a side project, so it isn't my main priority and will probably take quite a bit of time to finish, but this is a basic layout right now of what will be in it. I currently only have about 15,00 words in it and am most of the way through the third chapter.
Law and Order
One Hell of a Year //Events since the takeover
Reformation //Description of the current branches of Knight Errant
Deployment //Description of the current areas Knight Errant holds a contract over
History Lesson //Brief overview of Knight Errant's history
Patronage //A glimpse into the Ares and Knight Errant relationship
The Legal Life
Training and Procedures
-Going Through Basic //basic training that every Knight goes through
-The Street Life //Traning and procedures for Patrol Officers
-A Lethal Response //Training and procedures for response teams
-Investigation //Detective and Forensics Training and procedures
-Containment //Training and procedures for Containment teams
-Checkpoints //Description of the different types of checkpoints and their procedures
Tools of the Trade
Knight Errant Arsenal //New weapons designed by Ares Arms to outfit Knight Errant
Asset Protection //Standard Armor Sets used by Knight Errant Officers
Standard Equipment //Sensors, Vision, Audio, Software, and Tactical Equipment
Motor City //Vehicles and Drones new to Knight Errant
Life of Chems //Performance Drugs and Toxins used by Knight Errant
A Personal Touch
Weapon Accessories and Modifications
Armor Accessories and Modifications
Vehicle Accessories and Modifications
A Frozen Citadel
Knight Errant Programs //List of new Law Enforcement programs
Security Objectives //What matrix security is taught to do as primary objective
KY9X7 //The newest IC to hit the matrix, and Knight Errant is making the most of it
Standard Field Specs //Standard K.E. commlink specs and distributions
Awakened Enforcement
K.E. Grimoire //Spells and Mentor Spirits common to K.E. magicians
K.E. Adepts //Describing the typical K.E. adept by branch and a few K.E. taught powers
Operating Procedures //What Magicians and Adepts are taught as primary objective
Knights of the Emerald City
Personnel Files //Grunt stats for Knight Errant officers of all types
Special Faces //Full statted "Prime" Officers
Kits //Easy way to modify stats for race change and equip with special gear
A Knight's Guide to the Emerald City
Places of Interest //Areas frequented by Knights of the city, ordered by district
Campaign
Knight in the Red Guantlet //A short adventure
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quite ambitious, but a nice thing to have. The outline looks very good. Are you going to put Shadowtalk in it?
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Any special units for data theft, hacking, major crimes, i.e. tracking runners?
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I plan to do a shadowtalk bit myself and have a few friends help out with submissions for it as well. I think they really help add different points of view to the content and have always enjoyed it.
I do plan to add a section to each branch that deals regularly with runners and what their role in catching them is. Knight Errant (as an Ares subsidiary) is very particular though in which runners it actually wants to catch. 8)
Looking at what I have so far, I realized that I included an older table of contents breakdown. I do plan to include a section for both matrix security and prosecution (as long as a few new programs that law enforcement has come up with) and a section on Magic dealing with Knight Errant.
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Definitely cheesy, but how about an intro with a grizzled detective fondly remembering Hatchetman. Then he could talk about how the streets have changed, so on and so forth.
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I plan to do a shadowtalk bit myself and have a few friends help out with submissions for it as well. I think they really help add different points of view to the content and have always enjoyed it.
I do plan to add a section to each branch that deals regularly with runners and what their role in catching them is. Knight Errant (as an Ares subsidiary) is very particular though in which runners it actually wants to catch. 8)
Looking at what I have so far, I realized that I included an older table of contents breakdown. I do plan to include a section for both matrix security and prosecution (as long as a few new programs that law enforcement has come up with) and a section on Magic dealing with Knight Errant.
You should let the Stars so Bright runners in on the shadowtalk, I can be your A. nonymous =P
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I'll think about it when I get the thing finished. 8)
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I've got a Google Doc up with the rough draft of the Knight Errant Arsenal in it. Any of you that would like to look over it and add advice or do some shadow talk send me a PM and I'll toss you a link to the Document.
I find that having people ask for the link (as opposed to just posting it) tends to cut out a lot of vandalism to the documents.
Keep in mind that its a first draft, so it will see editing, but I'd like to get feedback on it before I try to start polishing it up.
For shadow talk, I've been using ¤ (alt code: 0164). If you'd like to add shadow talk, please post it in blue (so I can tell new entries and save them to my back up).
If you'd like to add advice or comments on a piece just use a double slash "//" and your comment in red.
EDIT: I've got another Document up with the Vehicles in it and hope to have Armor and Drones up by Friday night.
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I like the concept a lot. There isn't as much out there on the Knights yet and they would be a big part of running in Seattle now.
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Here's a link (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fq2reud2j3EbCrTI5_vQoVDfYb6H04IpxiXGPlJ23b4/edit?hl=en_US) to the rough draft of Chapter Three: Tools of the Trade. Any feedback is muchly appreciated, especially on the vehicles and drones (I haven't played a rigger yet so I'm not as familiar with them as guns, armor, ect.). Fair warning to anyone interested, it's a beast so it'll take a bit for it to fully load and your browser may freeze up (it was fifty pages in word roughly before I purged the pictures).
I plan on the final draft being in PDF, but for now its all in a word doc and the format got munched up by Google docs so I apologize for how ugly it is. I took out the few pictures I have (only of guns) to save loading time, but if you want to see them you can click HERE (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Xjza2ne1i2_lauZl5nCsj9Bo2J5yWnulCy297npEeFI/edit?hl=en_US&pli=1).
Right now it is primarily crunch, but I intend to add more fluff in the next draft as well as expanding the definitions of a few things, weapons systems mainly.
If you'd like to add in shadow talk or comments just follow the directions I left in my last post 8) . Don't worry about trying to edit it though, I'll get to that as I polish it up through the draft phases.
Edit: Feel free to add suggestions for additional gear, accessories, and modifications you'd like to see.
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Any thoughts to adding a Vic Mackey style NPC and his "Strike Team"?
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I've never actually seen The Shield (I think that's where the reference was pointing?), but I do plan on adding in several unique teams for undercover, rapid response and tactical response in the same section that I'll be giving standard stats for various agents.
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In particular, Mackey was a well known, corrupt cop inside and outside the organization.
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Oh yes, there will be blatant corruption. Its the focal point of the adventure that will be in the back. To add a quote from old Sergeant MaGee (a fiction character in one of the intro blurbs):
I can't take a piss in this precinct without splattering a dozen rats and a coward.
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I will look in more detail later, but this project is made of awesome. The only thing I'd add is that I kinda wish they'd release a general Law Enforcement sourcebook... KE, updated Lone Star, the other players, etc.etc.
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Keep in mind, nothing in this project is even remotely canon*, but I plan on giving a few details about Lone Star and Hard Corps (Ares' other less elite security corp). While the main focus is by far Knight Errant, I'm trying to make the operating procedures and legal information generic enough to be useful in other areas where non-Knight Errant enforcement may be encountered.
*Just felt the need to emphasize that is one hundred percent fan material and not in any way official.
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I'm aware of that, I'm almost hoping they pre-empt your work... I'm very happy that someone's doing it though.
After a titanic struggle with google documents...
Ex-Guard - At 20 charges, its the most enduring shock baton around (only using Main and Arsenal, I might have missed some) and at 8S, also the most powerful. Previously, the most powerful was a 7S weapon with 8 charges, while the stun staff was non-telescoping, 6S and had 15 charges. I would strongly recommend nerfing this weapon some so that its not simply the best shock baton on the market by miles.
P-21 Agent - A 6P Heavy Pistol without serious downsides is pretty bloody powerful.
P-26 Scout - A standard pistol for undercover officers strikes me as counter-intuitive personally; I'd have thought non-standard pistols would be better there, and non-cutting edge Ares even better. Unless you and I think different things when we hear undercover. Since weight is rarely mentioned, the weight thing isn't that important... what would be useful, sit up worthy and not completely overpowered, would be the same concealibility as a hold-out pistol. As things stand, you've just got a modded Ares Light Fire.
A-14 Squire - Silencers don't work on SMGs, rules as written. They use sound suppressors.
A-14 Valiant - Could you make explicit how much recoil the chambering design removes? It appears similar to that used in the Ares Alpha, but I'm not sure.
A-42 Black Knight - Your gun is officially the herald of Monty Python jokes at any table at which it is used. It would also appear to signal that Ares are happier to spend more on an assault rifle for any KE member who needs one than they do for Firewatch. That seems wrong. See also chambering design point above.
The Shocker has submachine gun in the title but machine pistol in the description text.
I appreciate the option probably wouldn't be available to me, but I for one would not like to be carrying a Dragonslayer sniper rifle if I were a KE in Denver. It just gives the wrong impression :P
m-145 Threat - I'm guessing the 1k value includes rarity for non-HCC getting hands on it, as elsewise it would be cheaper for Ares to buy AKs and mod them. They'd also get a better gun. Actually, in general, the HCC weapons are pretty poo for the value.
2SLO - Skipping way ahead, it just seems weird that chatty and good looking people are more resistant to this drug than anyone else. Elves are laughing. Giving it to a Troll is borderline cruel. I'd probably drop the coma bit.
That is the extent of my critical facilities today.
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Thanks. Working on updating a few things now.
I had to cut about five pages of material to get Google Docs to load it without crashing my browser, but I'll see if I can get some of it added tomorrow in a more sparse format.
The point of the gear presented is mostly to show that the new K.E. line is the newest advancements. Ares has strong reasons for keeping its child in a position to protect its interests in Seattle, and doing a good job in Seattle can easily bring in more contracts.
That said:
EX-Guard - I'll probably drop the damage down to 7S, increase the Avail, and increase the cost. I don't want it as hard to get ahold of as the other KE weapons, but being cutting edge I should have put it higher than 12 to begin with I think. I was also considering dropping the damage when using it extended, but it just felt wonky to me.
P-21 Agent is not meant to be easily accessible for non-Knight Errant. The document has a lot of the beginning fluff cut out, but among it is the lockdown coding that Knight Errant has on every new weapon that prevents it from being lifted from a downed officer and used. In addition, the K.E. line cannot take post manufacture modifications (again its in a bit that didn't fit in the google doc).
P-26 Scout - I'm trying to get the rules worked out to feel balanced, but what I'm wanting to do is allow Heavy Pistol "cases" to be attached on it that make it appear to be a normal gun, but allow it to still function silently when needed.
The Valiant and Black Knight both have 2 points of recoil from chamber design. While the line was "officially" designed for Knight Errant, Ares doesn't have any issues using its new weapon line for its other elite units as well. The Black Knight is effectively a modified Alpha without the grenade launcher.
All of the weapons will have their costs reflecting street value rather than manufacture cost. The HCC weapons are not meant to be better than anything currently on the market, but if you want to impersonate HCC you'll look weird without something they normally use.
I need to playtest 2Slo a bit to get a good feel for it, but the coma is meant to be more of a severe depression than a physical crash coma. I was torn on basing it off of Charisma or Willpower.
Please share all opinions with me when you get to reading more though. It is nice to me just to know someone has been reading it. 8)
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I kind of started reading through it. Sadly, as I've not yet converted myself to SR4, many of the concepts, as you can imagine, don't properly register with me yet. However, in its presentation and format, I can give my opinion in that it's comprehensive and pretty exhaustive for a fan-book.
Keep up the good work. I'm sure there's bound to be people who'll benefit from your effort.
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I can totally understand. I didn't make the switch for myself until this year and I remember looking at some things at first and just huh. SR4 actually reminds me more of White Wolf than the old SRs as far as the system is concerned.
This is roughly a fifth of what I'm working on for it, but since its the biggest crunch (rules that is) part, I wanted to get the most feedback on it.
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Personally, having given it thought, I'd drop the number of charges the EX-Guard can hold. Even with advances, its still a massive amount of charges to hold for its power, and makes me curious about more ordinary models which would surely be the duracell bunnies of the shock baton world. A 10 charge 8/7S extendable baton would still be the kingpin of the shock baton world, but not so much. That is just me mind.
The thing about the P-21 Agent is a) its a precedent I'm uneasy about seeing set b) Sooner or later, a PC will figure a way to get their hands on one. Or a competitor will come up with a model based on it, and so on... I mean, it has effectively rendered every other heavy pistol obsolete. I'm not sure that's a good idea.
P-26 Scout - Interesting idea, like it.
Yup, makes sense with the HCC.
Ahh, maybe a wording issue then - from what you're saying, I'd be a bastard and reduce both Charisma and Willpower. I would only put coma-esque effects on if Willpower hits 0 (people who take Willpower above 3 who aren't mages deserve something for it!)
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A Super Warhawk can be changed to Semi-Auto at 6P AP -2 and given a cylinder of 8. Meaning that this will have one less AP and three more rounds in a clip instead of cylinder. I intend to playtest it significantly, but with High Powered Chambering out there as well, I don't feel that its really creeping the power as long as the guns are restricted from having new mods. Its overpowered when compared to stock pistols, but then again, its a highly customized pistol rather than a stock pistol.
I think 2Slo may end up there by the end, but I want to playtest it out this way before I go down that road. I don't want it too good, but I really don't want it too bad either.
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Not sure what you have read of Season 4 SR Missions, but I hope you include Detective Tosh in the Seattle section
and possible some of the cases he has 'handled', ie what he has done in the missions so far
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Don't overthink the Scout. It isn't uncommon for big, powerful handguns to be made in smaller, concealable sizes. Magazine capacity is lower, recoil will be higher, range and accuracy at longer ranges will degrade.
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You know, I'd factored in High Powered rounds for a maximum possible heavy pistol damage, but for some reason never factored it into ordinary heavy pistols as a 'they've already broken it'. Or, in other words, ignore me as I'm an idiot. Still not entirely happy but they do already exist its true.
And playtest it, but 2Slo looks like it will stand it. Its the only combat drug that doesn't neccesarily hurt you/leave you standing around looking like a fool when it wears off insofar as I remember (providing you pack a high enough will/cha). That's quite powerful in itself, nevermind the lovely bonuses.
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Not sure what you have read of Season 4 SR Missions, but I hope you include Detective Tosh in the Seattle section and possible some of the cases he has 'handled', ie what he has done in the missions so far
Fan material being in a grey area already legally, I won't be including anyone official in any detail other than passing comments.
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Well here is a very rough draft of chapter one. It's got a lot of cleaning up for me to do, but this will give a rough idea of what I intend to include in it at least.
Knight Errant Chapter One (https://docs.google.com/document/d/11zlNDHVS5jNWp6Sv1CXudRJvd9BCNa6d1EWtgOhrEc8/edit?hl=en_US)
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I'm bumping this thread because I'm interested in this fan-book and unable to contact Crash_00. Is there any updated links or pdf available?
Thanks,
Brent