Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Gamemasters' Lounge => Topic started by: TheHug on <10-28-11/1747:51>
-
Howdy! I'm new to the forums.
Been eyeballing Shadowrun for literally years, played RPG's a couple times when I was younger, played miniature wargames a lot before (But who has that time and money, really?). The past few months I've been playing D&D with a good group though, and when I asked if they'd like to try a Shadowrun session or two, they were really into the idea. So now I am drawing up a bit of an adventure. I've got an alright grasp on the rules at this point, but Shadowrun is kind of bananas complex, and I wanted some advice on a couple more nuanced points of GMing.
Character Advancement:
I have a group used to D&D. We play a couple sessions, we level up, get all kinds of new toys. While it seems Shadowrun is a little more evenly paced, I wonder how GM's use the pacing of character advancement. In SR4, these take place over the course of weeks and months. Do you usually tie this time period into your games i an interesting way? What are characters supposed to be doing in between adventures, seeing as adventures are pretty much their day job? If Each session takes place only a few days in game time after the last, it could take a seriously long time for players to squeeze new stuff out of their characters. It is of course easy enough to just let players spend points and get better after an adventure, but I am wondering if anyone has a useful or interesting way to implement these longer time frames. I suppose the same goes for longer-time tests like for availability, etc.
Starting Characters:
So the adventure I am cooking up pretty much pits the characters against groups of street thugs and will climax with them raiding a gang's hideout/squatted in apartment building. As my first time running a Shadowrun game, I wanted to steer clear of the more crazy stuff like intense astral combat, major Matrix networks etc, but will definitely include a couple moments where minor hacking and assessing might be of some use. My concern comes from looking at the example characters, which look like they were all created from the standard 400bp starting character build, and they all look pretty bad-ass. I like the flavor of the adventure I am making as a starting point in a local slum against a minor gang, but I also don't want the PC's to just blast through all the street goons I throw at them in a single combat turn. It's always easy to just throw more enemies on the table, but that seems cheap and boring. I figure I might bring the fight to a climax with a more heavily modified gang leader type, but still unsure about difficulty balance.
Nuanced World, etc:
I'm coming from playing D&D, which in my experience seems to be a series of combat encounters underground from one to the next, which can be fun but lacks a little more nuance. The shadowrun rules for identification, weapon concealment, citizenship, availability and contacts all point to a ton of potential for more layered social and situational play, which I find really exciting. I'm going to have at least a couple more social situations in my adventure. I'm planning an early run in with a couple of lone star officers on the beat, who aren't looking for trouble, and will probably be intimidated by the number and armory of the PC's. Being D&D players, I'm excited to see if my players just off and waste them when they get close, which of course should have reverberating consequences down the line. I'm just wondering how others use the wider world and social/long term rules of the game in their campaigns. There is so much there, you can almost make the world react strictly based on rules alone, with a mix of good storytelling decisions to flesh stuff out. How much do y'all let the wider world of the game react to PC actions, legality, etc? What if a PC gets caught with a restricted weapon and is later wanted by Lone Star for having it (and for probably taking out the cop who discovered it)? I'm sure a lot of it comes down to individual GMing and how you want the story to flow, but I'd love some commentary.
Holy cow, I realize that is a lot of ask. I've never played SR before and don't know anyone who plays it regularly, so I came here for it. No need to respond in a post as long as mine!
Thanks!
-
Alright so gang's aren't always tough but remember catching someone by surprise can be deadly whether they are skilled or not, and the game can easily be deadly in the right circumstances. Take for example last session i ran, they had a week to gather missions/jobs that they could choose from. I each had them telling me what they did each day. Well one of them ran a dojo, and a kid came in and challenged him. A real punk talking trash and the works. Well he gets his ass handed to him.
A few days down the raod of this week he comes back with his friends, and they throw pumpkin's into the dojo setting it on fire. Actually aiming for people. (Halloweeners, i thought it'd have more style if they threw pumpkins that burst into flames instead of Molotov cocktails. Which may have been inside the pumpkins but regardless.
3 pumpkins through the window dropped one of the player's that was there Learning from the player. unforunately rolls for scatter where not on the side for the student as the master remained unharmed. So three 4Physical damage resist's later this PC is dying. (his rolls sucked but imagine if they were grenades... xD)
anyways the point is even street thugs can possess a potential threat. Also have them use tactic's one of the things i know coming from dnd is i'm not used to "Taking cover" and firing. Get familiar with bonus' and negatives to shot, the distance range, visibility modifiers, and even shooting through walls.
The first mistake i usually see if players try to stand out in the open and do a gun fight. Not a smart idea, and unforunately for me that's how it usually is because i don't remember to take cover yet. :P
Alright someone else's turn to field questions!
-
Character Advancement:
I have a group used to D&D. We play a couple sessions, we level up, get all kinds of new toys. While it seems Shadowrun is a little more evenly paced, I wonder how GM's use the pacing of character advancement. In SR4, these take place over the course of weeks and months. Do you usually tie this time period into your games i an interesting way? What are characters supposed to be doing in between adventures, seeing as adventures are pretty much their day job? If Each session takes place only a few days in game time after the last, it could take a seriously long time for players to squeeze new stuff out of their characters. It is of course easy enough to just let players spend points and get better after an adventure, but I am wondering if anyone has a useful or interesting way to implement these longer time frames. I suppose the same goes for longer-time tests like for availability, etc.
My last game session was 30 minutes of adventure wrap-up (payout and karma ward) and 2 hours of down time. There's no end to what the characters will be doing in their down time. Since learning a new skill is an extended test (1 week, or 1 month for skill groups) they will need that downtime. Some of my players have actually run into the issue of "not enough time" for all the things they want to work on. I use the 1 Day for extended tests actually means 8 hours of work (I thought I had RAW stating this, but a quick check on Extended Tests, SR4A 64-65, does not confirm or deny), so 1 Week Extended test is seven 8-hour days of work. I let my players double the time interval (for learning/increasing skills, attributes, building/repairing most things, etc.) so they can be working on two things in any given day (4 hours each). This way they can shuffle things around if they get a short run. If the run bites into either of the 4 hour slots then what ever they're working on gets pushed back a day.
The adept has 14 more days of her initiation ordeal to complete before she gains her first grade of initiate. She's also dealing with having a blackberry cat (RW) taking up residence at her place despite her being allergic to cats.
The mage has been researching magical groups, decided to start his own, only to realize he needs (or should have) the Arcana skill, so now he's started learning that.
The hacker/face is learning Pilot ground craft and coding his own stealth program.
And in addition to their studying, the adept has bought a weapon focus (through black market channels) w/ fake license and has to wait 11 days for that to arrive while the hacker ordered a black market biofeedback filter (met his first black IC last run and said, "oh, so that's why I should have a biofeedback filter." Ha!) which he'll get in 8 days.
If a player comes to me with a list of a, b, c, d, etc. And says I use contact z for a, and c, contact y for d, and contact x for b...then I'm happy to do some quick rolls and let them know the time frame.
However, it usually is never like this and there's some amount of role-playing with their contacts during this "phase" of the game. As such, so far (and since my game sessions only run about 3 hours due to scheduling and what not), the down time phases take up about 1 night's worth of gaming.
And on top of all that, the down time phase is subject to a "if nothing else happens between now and forever...what are your character's plans" clause. Then I write up a "so if all goes according to plan, adept - you'll have your focus by this time, and your ordeal is over at this time, hacker - you make another roll to learning piloting at this date and a coding rolling on this date, etc." Once I have that all fleshed out, I compare it to my campaign timeline to see where things go wrong and then at the next game session I can start with "So, you're starting to get excited because in three days you're supposed to get your weapon focus, when your fixer calls offering you a job for a week "vacation" in Hong Kong but you need to leave tomorrow..." Players are then free to choose what they want to do.
The biggest issue with down time, at least so far for me, is not "what are the players doing," cause there's always something, but more how to move things along so no one single player is dominating the time. And despite my best efforts, my players are pretty bad about doing any upkeep/work on their characters in between game time. But here's to hoping the mage gets me an outline of what he wants for his magical group before next session. :)
Starting Characters:
So the adventure I am cooking up pretty much pits the characters against groups of street thugs and will climax with them raiding a gang's hideout/squatted in apartment building. As my first time running a Shadowrun game, I wanted to steer clear of the more crazy stuff like intense astral combat, major Matrix networks etc, but will definitely include a couple moments where minor hacking and assessing might be of some use. My concern comes from looking at the example characters, which look like they were all created from the standard 400bp starting character build, and they all look pretty bad-ass. I like the flavor of the adventure I am making as a starting point in a local slum against a minor gang, but I also don't want the PC's to just blast through all the street goons I throw at them in a single combat turn. It's always easy to just throw more enemies on the table, but that seems cheap and boring. I figure I might bring the fight to a climax with a more heavily modified gang leader type, but still unsure about difficulty balance.
I pretty much agree with Zilfer here. "Best laid schemes" and all that. Last run my players (all relatively new, and with only 15 Karma earned so far in the campaign) had to deal with 3 heavily cybered MCT special ops and their on-site hacker (no magic). They way I built them I was getting pretty scared that I'd just totally wipe the group with them and noted that maybe I should just give all the special ops a -2 modifier all around to lower the build. But when the team got to the safe house and was about to storm it the group mage decides to take a -4 penalty and sustain Improved Invisibility on both the party adept and cybered gun-bunny (and he took 3 boxes of stun from the drain, so he had a total -5 modifier to everything after that). It ended up making for a good fight as two of the MCT ops had the gun bunny pinned down between the stove-top island in the kitchen (even dealing a light wound on one occasion with a blind fire shotgun blast through the island) while the adept was chasing the leader, slicing him in half in the end. Luckily (for the MCT guys) I had equipped them with lots of cyber audio upgrades so they could figure out approximately where the PCs were. The rest of the time the mage is astrally projecting, manifesting now and again to cause distractions or tell the other PCs where their target was (a kidnapped hacker they were out to rescue). Meanwhile the party hacker is outside back at their bikes "watching over" the mage's body (which made me laugh and the mage's player worried/scared when the hacker says, "I go full VR" hehe). The hacker then disables the roving LMG equipped doberman but then encounters loaded black IC on the MCT Fly-spy...which bites him hard (with no biofeedback filter at this time, hehe), but the hacker finally gets control of the drone.
In the end, I had the party tense and worried about the MCT team, with three of the PCs getting wounded (though the mage "did it to himself"), where initially I was worried it would be a TPK.
One never knows, really, how a combat is going to resolve itself and even gauging "threat level" can be difficult because one well placed shot, spell, hack, can change everything with the roll of the dice. And this is one of the hardest things to grapple with (from a GM point a view) if coming over from D&D (3rd or 4th editions) as encounters are built to match the party (generally, at least the mechanics are there and the DM is free to adjust up or down...but at least when adjusting they have an idea that the encounter is some number of levels above or below the party which informs the DM what to expect in a general way). But this is also one of the reasons I like Shadowrun, nearly every encounter is potentially lethal and it really requires both players and GM to think hard about the pieces in play.
Nuanced World, etc:
I'm coming from playing D&D, which in my experience seems to be a series of combat encounters underground from one to the next, which can be fun but lacks a little more nuance. The shadowrun rules for identification, weapon concealment, citizenship, availability and contacts all point to a ton of potential for more layered social and situational play, which I find really exciting. I'm going to have at least a couple more social situations in my adventure. I'm planning an early run in with a couple of lone star officers on the beat, who aren't looking for trouble, and will probably be intimidated by the number and armory of the PC's. Being D&D players, I'm excited to see if my players just off and waste them when they get close, which of course should have reverberating consequences down the line. I'm just wondering how others use the wider world and social/long term rules of the game in their campaigns. There is so much there, you can almost make the world react strictly based on rules alone, with a mix of good storytelling decisions to flesh stuff out. How much do y'all let the wider world of the game react to PC actions, legality, etc? What if a PC gets caught with a restricted weapon and is later wanted by Lone Star for having it (and for probably taking out the cop who discovered it)? I'm sure a lot of it comes down to individual GMing and how you want the story to flow, but I'd love some commentary.
Yeah, it's huge. Every time my players travel over ~5 km (it's arbitrary really) in the Seattle Metroplex via ground transportation I make them roll a D6 (if their traveling in a group, only one roll, if they're traveling from their separate residences to meet up somewhere, then each rolls, etc.). If the result is a 1 then "something happens." One time it was a traffic jam on I5 in Tacoma because some gangers managed to steal a military troop transport and get it onto the freeway before it was disabled and a stand off was occurring. This added time to their travel as they took side streets.
The last time was on the way home from the MCT safe house run. The mage got pulled over by Lone Star on the freeway (I'm still in 2070 in my campaign). I decided that the stun damage from drain was making the mage a little wobbly on his motorcycle, but the player doesn't know this. I ask the player what fake SIN he's broadcasting and all that. The cop says, "Have you been drinking," and I make a few rolls against the fake SIN while the cop's commlink is running the analysis programs. The mage says, "no, just heading down to get one though." The rolls come up clean for the mage so the cop just says, "Which bar?" the player answers, the cop responds, "Ah, okay. Have a safe night." And that's it. Could have gone down completely differently if the fake SIN didn't hold up or if the player was cocky, etc.
If you can get your hands on the old, 1st edition, Sprawl Sites, it has a section of random encounter tables based on general neighborhood "quality" that the players are in. I'll break that out every once in a while if I can't think of something quickly. The encounters are "stats-light" and more like current "adventure seeds" in the campaign books (Ghost Cartels, Emergence, etc.) so there's little to modify to make work for 4th edition.
-
When I have more time and less headache, I'll come back to this.
-
Good advice above.
On advancement, I allow my players to take as much time as they desire for their downtime for the most part. They're freelance workers, they set their own hours so they can take a month off if they agree to. They just have to keep making the lifestyle payments without any money coming in, and if they take too long it can effect their rep ("Felicia who? Oh, I thought she chickened out of the biz a few months ago after that run on Ares.", etc), and it will increase the likelihood I'll come up with something that happens to a family or friend during that time that draws them into a run anyhow.
On starting characters. 400BP is supposed to represent runners who've been doing the biz for a little while. Not elite experts, but they're not quite green around the ears anymore. If you want a lower level game you could adjust this down a bit, 350BP for a group that's just starting to become runners for example.
However, don't make the mistake of lowering the BP amount just because you think they they might roll over the opposition. Like Fizzygoo and Zilfer said, even gangers can be a real serious threat when correctly used. Numbers, tactics (even simple ones like using cover or waiting for backup), surprise, or even just knowledge about the home ground can be total game changers. And Shadowrun is classically called a "Game of Glass Cannons", it's not that hard for everyone to be lethal and everyone has to worry about shattering. So don't consider lowering the BP JUST to make the players less powerful, if you're going to do it make sure it's because it fits the background of where they're starting from.
On the nuances of the world. The game is so different from your average dungeon crawl. Not that D&D couldn't be more social and tactical if the GM and players wished, it's just that the setting for Shadowrun really brings it to the forefront. Anyhow, it varies far to much for me to give you a hard and fast rule for if you're players get caught or anything. I play it that most cops will take bribes for things that aren't extremely serious. Get caught without a SIN but are otherwise obeying the law, slip the cop a little money and he might not bust your head for trying to muck it up with the good clean rich folks. Fake SIN, well maybe a bit more and that's only if you don't fit the profile of anyone wanted for anything recently, like the last run you did. Have a pretty little Ares Pred II that's not licenced? Not anymore, the cop's X-mas came early. It goes on and on.
Usually I'll roll a dice and figure a 5 or 6 and the cop can be bribed, 3 or 4 he wants to bust a head more then a bribe, 2 he's actually an honest cop who's still clinging to the badge, or 1 there's some more serious complication, like he's seriously racist towards the person's metatype, or he's wiling to plant drugs on the player to make a bust (remember, lots of beat cops are on COMMISSION, they get paid at least in part by the numbers of crimes they stop), etc. But all of those can change in an instant depending on what my players decide to say or do, it just sets up the initial response. So no matter the complication the players have the ability to make it turn out ok or make it worse.
Anyhow, if you really want to pick up some info on the subject, the last chapter in Vice is all about the various LEOs (Law Enforcement Organizations) and a bit on how they operate. Good book, filled with useful fluff that can help a GM understand a bit more about the world and gives some good ideas for runs and jobs too.
-
Howdy! I'm new to the forums.
Been eyeballing Shadowrun for literally years, played RPG's a couple times when I was younger, played miniature wargames a lot before (But who has that time and money, really?). The past few months I've been playing D&D with a good group though, and when I asked if they'd like to try a Shadowrun session or two, they were really into the idea. So now I am drawing up a bit of an adventure. I've got an alright grasp on the rules at this point, but Shadowrun is kind of bananas complex, and I wanted some advice on a couple more nuanced points of GMing.
First off, welcome to Shadowrun! It's always nice to see some new folks taking in the game. :)
Character Advancement:
I have a group used to D&D. We play a couple sessions, we level up, get all kinds of new toys. While it seems Shadowrun is a little more evenly paced, I wonder how GM's use the pacing of character advancement. In SR4, these take place over the course of weeks and months. Do you usually tie this time period into your games i an interesting way? What are characters supposed to be doing in between adventures, seeing as adventures are pretty much their day job? If Each session takes place only a few days in game time after the last, it could take a seriously long time for players to squeeze new stuff out of their characters. It is of course easy enough to just let players spend points and get better after an adventure, but I am wondering if anyone has a useful or interesting way to implement these longer time frames. I suppose the same goes for longer-time tests like for availability, etc.
Generally my group plays one adventure in an evening. In longer adventures, it might take a couple gaming sessions to get through, but usually it's one per night. The overall game time is probably close to 4 hours. We do use off time in our games. During this time our GM (sometimes me) has all the players upkeep contacts, maintain weapons/equip, learn new spells, and make upgrades to electronics, etc. We will all roll on the random encounters table in the Sprawl Sites book. If you don't have this (it might be hard to find, I don't know) and you want random encounters, then just make a quick table of different corps, gangs, and interesting people. Roll to see who they meet in their off time. Who knows, it might lead to an adventure in and of itself. :)
Starting Characters:
So the adventure I am cooking up pretty much pits the characters against groups of street thugs and will climax with them raiding a gang's hideout/squatted in apartment building. As my first time running a Shadowrun game, I wanted to steer clear of the more crazy stuff like intense astral combat, major Matrix networks etc, but will definitely include a couple moments where minor hacking and assessing might be of some use. My concern comes from looking at the example characters, which look like they were all created from the standard 400bp starting character build, and they all look pretty bad-ass. I like the flavor of the adventure I am making as a starting point in a local slum against a minor gang, but I also don't want the PC's to just blast through all the street goons I throw at them in a single combat turn. It's always easy to just throw more enemies on the table, but that seems cheap and boring. I figure I might bring the fight to a climax with a more heavily modified gang leader type, but still unsure about difficulty balance.
Lowlife gangers can still be a threat. While they might not be as proficient at firing an SMG or slashing you with a blade, those weapons still can be lethal in poor hands. As Tagz mentioned, you can lower starting BP to 350 or so if you want really green shadowrunners. However I'd recommend keeping it at 400.
Nuanced World, etc:
I'm coming from playing D&D, which in my experience seems to be a series of combat encounters underground from one to the next, which can be fun but lacks a little more nuance. The shadowrun rules for identification, weapon concealment, citizenship, availability and contacts all point to a ton of potential for more layered social and situational play, which I find really exciting. I'm going to have at least a couple more social situations in my adventure. I'm planning an early run in with a couple of lone star officers on the beat, who aren't looking for trouble, and will probably be intimidated by the number and armory of the PC's. Being D&D players, I'm excited to see if my players just off and waste them when they get close, which of course should have reverberating consequences down the line. I'm just wondering how others use the wider world and social/long term rules of the game in their campaigns. There is so much there, you can almost make the world react strictly based on rules alone, with a mix of good storytelling decisions to flesh stuff out. How much do y'all let the wider world of the game react to PC actions, legality, etc? What if a PC gets caught with a restricted weapon and is later wanted by Lone Star for having it (and for probably taking out the cop who discovered it)? I'm sure a lot of it comes down to individual GMing and how you want the story to flow, but I'd love some commentary.
Holy cow, I realize that is a lot of ask. I've never played SR before and don't know anyone who plays it regularly, so I came here for it. No need to respond in a post as long as mine!
Thanks!
Yep it is a huge world with lots of depth and hooks available. I think Tagz and Fizzy answered this better than I could. You can hack and slash your way around town if you want, but just remember that doing so will bring consequences that the runners would probably not enjoy very much. They operate in the shadows for a reason. ;) And if they get caught, well, let's hope they have friends in high places or the cop is willing to take a bribe.
-
It's always easy to just throw more enemies on the table, but that seems cheap and boring. I figure I might bring the fight to a climax with a more heavily modified gang leader type, but still unsure about difficulty balance.
It's a gang, so I would suggest keeping the power level a little bit in the lower area - especially if it's the first run for the group. Instead, why not focus on playing the gang clever? The gang members may not be as tough fighters as the runners, but they surely know their terrain much better. They know all the shortcuts and hideouts, they know which walls are thin enough to shoot through, they know where to lay traps and where to throw the grenades, etc. You should probably try to let the gangers take the initiative, attacking instead of just beeing attacked - everything to keep the runners from doing it "their way". This way, it should be possible to make it pretty interesting for the players, even if their enemies are "just" average gangers.
The leader can be a little bit better, bust honestly, he shouldn't be a "boss battle", as this is Shadowrun, not D&D. And don't forget that gangers aren't mindless drones - they will probably flee, if wounded heavily, etc.
-
TheHug welcome to Shadowrun, and I hope your group finds it as enjoyable as I have over the years.
As far as the pregen characters actually they aren't that great of character builds, but they make good starting points. They are good at some things, but are far from optimal. I agree with everyone in that any combat can quickly go deadly if things go wrong so be careful about how many or how tough they seem on paper. Things like using cover, ambushes, and tactics can go a long way not to mention lucky rolls or unlucky rolls by others. I disagree with Irian that gangers will always run when wounded. If they are protecting something important to the gang they may well stay and fight, but retreat for reinforcements if things get really bad. Some of that is in the personal flavor and interpretation of the world.
Every campaign does advancement differently. For mine we play once a month for about 4-5 hours so I didn't want to bog down or loose part of the time in character advancement and upkeep work so we do it online between sessions. We originally did it by email, but then one of the players set up a web board which is really nice. We typically have a month between runs, but on occasion have had less. The players tell me what they are looking to do/ have their contacts look for. I then use invisible castle and make the rolls for the advancement or for their contacts to find stuff and post it. If there is time left they tell me what else they want to work on. I have the opposite rule from Fizzygoo in that they have to concentrate on one training at a time (though contacts can look for things also) and the training has to be done until finished or else they have to start over again when they restart.
To help with the flavor of the Shadowrun universe I think the following have some good source material that has helped me. (the list is in no particular order)
Seattle 2072 (assuming your game is set in Seattle though still can give ideas even if not set there.), Corporate Guide, Spy Games, and the runner's toolkit. One of the things I really like about Shadowrun is the fact that there is more to the background and setting. Really how big of a roll things like race, SIN (or lack there of), Corporate intrigue, gangs/organized crime, street life, magic, and the matrix play depends on how the GM and players want the game to have that aspect of the world. Also how gritty and dangerous or heroic the game is totally depends on the experience the group desires. One of the things that I like the most is the fact that even once characters get more powerful even a ganger with a good shot is dangerous.
Hope all of this helps you out
-
Wow, wow wow.
I guess I asked the right questions or something because you guys have given me so much to work with here. I really appreciate it. I'm thinking about spending a day with my group next week getting their characters together and trying out this adventure I am writing. Not sure how often we'll play or anything (or if any of them will want to play more than once), but hopefully we'll get some semi-regular sessions in and I can apply all of this.
The run I am drawing up revolves around finding Mr. Johnson's son or daughter who has been kidnapped by a local anti-metahuman gang. I'm planning three locations. One where the PC's go to the scene where the kid was last heard from and look for evidence (it's in a park, there are a couple NPC's they will interact with here, and maybe a Night Errant patrol who will hassle them a little but probably aren't looking for a fight, I might throw in a hackable security camera which shows the kidnappers enter the park).
The evidence will point them to a bar/club location where they will have to ask around and will encounter gang members who will give them the location of the kid either willingly or in discoverable messages on comm-links if the players end up killing them more hastily.
The climax will be a raid on an old abandoned apartment building where the gang is squatting, and are holding the girl. This is where I am most concerned about combat. I think if the runners try and just enter through the front door, a ganger will see them coming and alert his friends inside, who will be able to ambush. If the runners case the joint, look for back entrances and are otherwise smart, they can fight more on their own terms. I'm debating for plot reasons whether the gang has killed the kid or whether the runners get there in time. But ultimately the runners will find evidence that there was someone else pulling the strings (there always is, right?) and has business reasons to want Mr. Johnson out of town. What the runners do with this evidence will become the following adventure....
That's my outline and I've got the first location drawn up. I realize I just typed a whole other long post, but you guys have been so helpful already I figure I'd throw it out there and see what y'all think.
Thanks so much for the warm welcome.
-
Some (but not all) of the ways the players may circumvent your plans:
The evidence will point them to a bar/club location where they will have to ask around and will encounter gang members who will give them the location of the kid either willingly or in discoverable messages on comm-links if the players end up killing them more hastily.
At the moment that the characters know (or think they know) which gang is involved in the kidnapping then they may use contacts and legwork to find the gang's HQ or "where the gang would most likely keep a victim." Characters may have Knight Errant contacts, Gang contacts, etc. to work with as well, giving them an edge. A PC with a rival gang contact could even offer his contact (and that contact's gang) a share of the loot and glory to get his gang to take out the other gang (or at least soften them up) so long as the PCs get the kidnapped person.
I would be ready, and willing, to bypass the whole bar/club scene if the players are smart enough, but I'd also have at least one back-up location other than the bar/club where the gangers like to hang out (bowling alley, stuffer shack near one of the ganger's gf/bf's high school, etc.) these back-up locations don't need to be fleshed out, but they can come in handy. For example; PCs ask around at the park and a squatter says, "the gang mostly hangs out the bar, but they also frequent the bowling alley on Thursdays & Fridays, buy me beers they do if I keep their balls clean. Oh and occasionally they use an abandoned warehouse on the other side of the river for target practice with their pea-shooters. Their HQ, you know, I'm not really sure where their headquarters are, or who their boss is, probably find that out down at the bar, that's where they usually are."
That info can be spread over several contacts, so that each player has a chance to add something. The hacker gets info from the cameras, the face character handles the squatter, the character with KE contact gets info on the bowling alley, and the character with gang contacts gets info on the warehouse, etc.
I'd also do a quick outline of why the gang is a gang. Do they sell drugs, BTLs? Are they pimps, where do they keep the joygirls/boys, are they the joygirls/boys? Do they run protection rackets on the local businesses? Etc. Did they originally form out of boredom, to protect themselves from another gang(s), because their thrill seekers, to make money, etc. Are they aligned with any other gangs, organized crime, corporations, etc. If the PCs decide to search the HQ for "treasure" having these things fleshed out a bit will help you know random things they could find.
With that, the gang now feels spread out in the local community. Additionally, if any of the gangers escape the end climax then the players will have an idea of where they might go and if some escape with the kidnap victim then it's a good bet they'll hide out at the abandoned warehouse till things blow over.
The climax will be a raid on an old abandoned apartment building where the gang is squatting, and are holding the girl. This is where I am most concerned about combat. I think if the runners try and just enter through the front door, a ganger will see them coming and alert his friends inside, who will be able to ambush. If the runners case the joint, look for back entrances and are otherwise smart, they can fight more on their own terms. I'm debating for plot reasons whether the gang has killed the kid or whether the runners get there in time. But ultimately the runners will find evidence that there was someone else pulling the strings (there always is, right?) and has business reasons to want Mr. Johnson out of town. What the runners do with this evidence will become the following adventure....
This is where I would "ignore" what the players "might" do. I would just put myself in the heads of the gangers...what would they be doing. The have a kidnapped girl, so tensions are going to be high (probably). Are they dealing with that tension by acting all-military and being alert and setting guards out, or are they dealing with it by escaping into BTL induced comas...or a mix and match of both? If the leader posts guards, I'd have a time table of how many, positioned where, which ones are lax, which ones are diligent, and when shift changes occur. If they're going to kill the girl, then I'd either decide they'll try and kill her when the PCs are found to be infiltrating the HQ for story tension or at time X on day Y the gangers will kill her. The choice is dependent on what you want as a GM. I tend to be more of an X / Y kind of person but I'll set the time of the event such that if the players act (reasonably) fast enough they could save her and during the end fight scene decide whether or not one of the gangers tries to kill her then as well.
As the final caveat/warning...no matter what there's a good probability the players will think of something that wasn't thought of here. Sewer entrance, roof-top entrance, busting through a window via zip-line right into the girl's holding room and then back out the same way. Heck, the PCs might even decide to just sneak in and C4 the building to rubble and let their Johnson sift through the ruins.
:)
-
The run I am drawing up revolves around finding Mr. Johnson's son or daughter who has been kidnapped by a local anti-metahuman gang. I'm planning three locations. One where the PC's go to the scene where the kid was last heard from and look for evidence (it's in a park, there are a couple NPC's they will interact with here, and maybe a Night Errant patrol who will hassle them a little but probably aren't looking for a fight, I might throw in a hackable security camera which shows the kidnappers enter the park).
You might have already fleshed this out more, but something I'd point out for more detail would be the motives of the gang. Why are they kidnapping Mr. Johnson's child? Is it simply a racial thing, or did they pick him/her for another reason? You can spin this a number of different ways. On the first appearance it's a hate crime, but investigate a little more and you might find something more diabolical or contrived. Either way, it gives you some options which is nice to have as a GM. :)
-
Character Advancement:
Usually the downtime between adventures involves the team spending Karma to increase their skill sets. Per the RAW, the process to increase the skills includes making an extended test with time intervals of a week for a skill, and a month for a skill group. This is a perfect way to introduce the passage of time to the team, which means they have to spend the nuyen on their lifestyles during that time. And that means they have to wait for the person with the longest extended test. That eats up the nuyen pretty quick and, therefore, brings about there need to go on another run. ;)
Starting Characters:
Take a session and just go over character creation together. That way the players are more invested in their characters. As far as the NPCs, remember, it's not a competition between you and them. Set stuff up to give them a challenge, but don't punish them for creative ideas that get through those challenges easily. A prime example of this was a game I ran a few months ago with my team. They literally wrapped up my planned adventure in three hours because they thought up a great plan and had implemented it perfectly. So I threw a wrench in the works. The original run was to hold the target for three days, then release him without harm. On the third day, the Johnson called up and told them they needed to hold him for another two days. The team then had to go into a frenzy to figure out how to extend their perfect plan another two days.
Nuanced World, etc:
I only use elements when I need them in the story. If I want them to get to Neo-Tokyo from Seattle, I'll handwave the travel and various problems. If the adventure calls for travel to be part of the plan, then I'll throw the book at them. Same with just about anything else.
-
Go to the character creation thread and be inspired to make characters.
Then you can better help your players make fun characters and allow for changes between adventures so they don't become frustrated by a bad choice at chargen.
Rasmus
-
Along the lines of what rasmusnicolaj just posted I usually let the players make tweaks to the character (with GM approval) for two or three sessions especially this last time since I had several first time or very limited experience players and I wanted to be sure they didn't feel like they messed everything up and were "stuck" with something.
It has worked out great and everyone seems to be really enjoying the game. A couple players tweak a few small things, but no one really felt they needed to do any big changes. Mainly switching around a bit of gear, a skill or two type things.
-
Along the lines of what rasmusnicolaj just posted I usually let the players make tweaks to the character (with GM approval) for two or three sessions especially this last time since I had several first time or very limited experience players and I wanted to be sure they didn't feel like they messed everything up and were "stuck" with something.
It has worked out great and everyone seems to be really enjoying the game. A couple players tweak a few small things, but no one really felt they needed to do any big changes. Mainly switching around a bit of gear, a skill or two type things.
I do the same thing whenever I have new players. Since we use all of the SR4 materials, it can be overwhelming. Keeping that in mind and being flexible can be a great way to keep your players invested and happy with their characters.
-
Along the lines of what rasmusnicolaj just posted I usually let the players make tweaks to the character (with GM approval) for two or three sessions especially this last time since I had several first time or very limited experience players and I wanted to be sure they didn't feel like they messed everything up and were "stuck" with something.
It has worked out great and everyone seems to be really enjoying the game. A couple players tweak a few small things, but no one really felt they needed to do any big changes. Mainly switching around a bit of gear, a skill or two type things.
I do the same thing whenever I have new players. Since we use all of the SR4 materials, it can be overwhelming. Keeping that in mind and being flexible can be a great way to keep your players invested and happy with their characters.
Here, here (where? here. ah, k, thnxs).
So important, especially for new players. But I use this "rule" at the start of any campaign regardless of game system as there are both game mechanics reasons for why characters need to be tweaked as well as role-playing reasons.
In my current campaign I only allowed the use of the core book for character creation and then I didn't award karma until after the 3rd run (they got the full 3 runs' worth of karma though) but allowed the players to make changes (within the 400BP build) as they saw fit at the end of every session (still only using SR4A). Once karma was awarded then things clamp down on tweaking characters but they now have karma and the other books are open to them.
The foreseeable downside to this is "new characters and player jealousy" where if a PC dies and the player makes a new one, they will have access to all the other books and other players could be grumpy about not having had access to those qualities, gear, etc. I'll bridge that cross when I get to it...if it ever comes up.
-
You guys are awesome. Gonna incorporate as much as I can and just go for it this weekend, if my guys can get together. I've spent a long time staring at rules now and it seems the only way to really understand in depth is to play it out and see how they work in action. I'm sure I will have more questions (Technomancers seem to be quite hazy), but I'll direct them to more specific posts.
Thanks!
-
You guys are awesome. Gonna incorporate as much as I can and just go for it this weekend, if my guys can get together. I've spent a long time staring at rules now and it seems the only way to really understand in depth is to play it out and see how they work in action. I'm sure I will have more questions (Technomancers seem to be quite hazy), but I'll direct them to more specific posts.
Thanks!
No worries, Technomancers are still hazy to me as well. I've been playing for a few months too! XD
I really need to get a good grasp on the hacking here soon.... xD
-
You guys are awesome. Gonna incorporate as much as I can and just go for it this weekend, if my guys can get together. I've spent a long time staring at rules now and it seems the only way to really understand in depth is to play it out and see how they work in action. I'm sure I will have more questions (Technomancers seem to be quite hazy), but I'll direct them to more specific posts.
Thanks!
Just glad we can help out. Feel free to ask more questions as they arise.
-
Ran a bit of a session today!
Had three players, two of whom have never done RPG's, and one of whom I play D&D with. Neither of us had played SR before, so it was a little interesting. We got a little weighed down in character creation (I totally forgot to make them pay for fake SINs and licences for all that firepower), and only got to get a couple hours into the adventure I wrote, but they had a good time I think.
I definitely over-corrected in trying not to make the enemies for the first run too hard. We had to stop right when they reached the kind of climactic battle sequence, but at the current moment the magician has a force 5 spirit of Air busting through the door of a room with 3 gangers with light pistols and clubs, and the gang leader, who is a little buffer and packs an AK. So yeah, they're about to wipe the floor with my enemies. Given that the other two characters are a tanked out orc with some grenades and an FN HAR and aluminum bones and dermal plating and, and a god gunsliger with a minor in hacking, I'd say I should definitely up the ante next run.
There's a huge discussion going on already in the rules section about whether or not magicians are "unbalanced", I don't want to get into all that, but I do want to ask some questions about how you all deal with the more crazy things Magicians can do.
Astral Projection: I have no magical enemies/obstacles in my first scenario. The magician leaves his body in the car for a minute, flies around inside the gang hideout, and comes back knowing the layout and where all the enemies and the objective are. This seems kosher rules-wise, but how do y'all generally keep magicians from flying around astrally and telling the team what's up?
Spirits: I was totally unprepared for spirits. I checked out the rules, was like "yeah sure" and then we're playing and the runners pretty much have an additional character of exceptional ability all at once. (Aforementioned force 5 Air spirit). I'm sure there is a lot on this subject, but how do you limit what counts as a "service"? Is "go in that room and kill everyone" or is "use your elemental attack on that guy" a single serivce? I want to think the latter, because it will make spirits powerful, but more limited, but I'm not sure.
-
Don't be afraid to alter your NPCs on the fly. If you created the adventure before the players created their characters, don't be afraid to make the 3 gangers into 6, the light pistols into machine pistols, or SMGs, and the clubs into stun batons, etc. If you think they are light on armor throw some FFBA on them. Unless you are into an organic campaign, and feel the characters should wipe the floor with them. It'll probably take you a bit to get your power levels right, anyway, and I'm sure your players will understand.
Astral Projection - the best way to mess with this is wards, spirits, awakened opposition and paracritters.
-
Phylos Fett is right. I have been playing and GMing for quite a while and still have occasions where I adjust the power level on the fly. I want the players to be challenged so I make the power fairly high and then adjust if I need to (unless the players came up with a great plan that they should be rewarded for by making it easy.)
With astral projection all of Phylos Fett's ideas are good ones, and I agree with them all. Wards and spirits patrolling are cheap so even if the group the team is against doesn't have a mage they could run into them. Ohter possibilities are things like glomoss or other awakened defenses. Street magic has a section that talks about these.
With the spirit both of your examples are a single service. It depends on wording, and how the spirit might interpret what is said. If the mage is abusing it and/or abusing the spirit itself (for example sending it on a death mission) then don't be afraid to have it try and twist what its "orders" are. Remember that telling it to do anything is a service so if you tell the spirit open the door for me that is a service too.
Also keep in mind that Spirits cannot interact with technology so opening a regular door would be easy for it, but it wouldn't be able to open a maglocked door (unless it melted the door or some such). The spirit wouldn't be able to hunt for the computer terminal for the group either because of this for example. Also for a spirit to interact with the physical world they have to manifest, and a manifested spirit walking around will attract attention.
Hope this all helps
-
Phylos Fett is right. *snip* all of Phylos Fett's ideas are good ones, and I agree with them all.
Well, I can't argue with that...
-
Something else you can add to make magic use harder is up the background count of the location they are in. And yes Fett's suggestions are all good as well. :)
EDIT: Regarding magic use in general, drain is going to usually be the factor limiting what the mage can/wants to do. If he wants to fry that gang boss with a overcast force 10 manabolt, he can attempt it. However he is gonna deal with physical damaging drain that might put him out of the fight as well. Is he willing to make that kind of sacrafice? If so, roll away...
-
Thanks!
Yeah, coming playing a bit of D&D, my instinct was to make a "level 1" Shadowrun adventure. I'm starting to see there might not be any such thing. It's been pretty much a tutorial level though, too, and I am learning to GM. I think everything would have been a lot slower and would have spent more time flipping through books had I had an intense security network and astral/magical combat. The two guys who have never done RPG's before were halfway unconscious by the time we finished character creation. Plus I'm the only one who has read the rules, and yeah.
I want to include more stuff for the hacker to do next time, but he'll have to read up on the matrix or else it won't work. I need to look into designing secure building networks that do cool stuff.
-
One thing to consider, re: astral scouting, is the NPCs are not sitting around waiting for the PCs to knock down the door. Sure, the mage just saw them sitting around the holoprojector watching a trid. Five minutes of prep time later, it's a commercial break and one of the gangers goes to pay the beer rent while the others are regaled about the latest, greatest NERPS.
Walkover/walkthrough runs like this are also good for learning the rules. No major issues when someone inevitably forgets something, or discovers a paragraph was mis-read or skipped. When possible, I really enjoy doing a dry run with a character where I don't have the rules down solid, so I can tweak skills, attributes, 'ware, forms, powers, spells, gear... or discover that a given character quirk or appearance is cute... the first time.
Keep on having fun!
-
Like the others said, adjustments on the fly go a big way.
On balancing magicians/magic, that's a bit tricky. I wouldn't try to compare what a mage can do vs what a mundane can do. That's the uncool way to balance things. Instead, mages have incredible power at their fingertips but more consequences for it's use often times.
Often times a combat spell's damage is compared to a Sam's gun's. A Sam can get bigger and bigger guns too if they like, the problem with that becomes money and concealment. A mage seems unbalanced because they can output that same crazy damage without having to buy anything new and conceal-ability isn't an issue... Or is it? Every spell, focus, spirit leaves an Astral Signature that can be tracked back to the mage, every spell can be observed as it is cast by the noticing magic rules.
Anyhow, my point is that a great deal of balancing magic is not using the rules so much as using the setting and the rules together. Magic is rare, so it's memorable - witnesses will be more likely to remember a mage's face, clothes, etc, if they've observed him/her making magic or saw a spirit. Any law enforcement agency worth a damn will bring in a mage of their own to check for astral signatures if they believe magic was involved in whatever they're looking into, records will be kept, etc. My own game I tend to make things of a magical nature drawn to or at least take notice of other powerful magical occurrences, so toxic spirits might show up and take interest, etc.
A mage is totally unbalanced in terms of a fight alone. But looking at the bigger picture, they have a lot more ways to be tracked down. The normal things like DNA evidence (blood from being shot, etc), fingerprints, being caught on camera, all that just like anyone else, but also a whole bunch of things that other characters don't need to worry about. If a GM neglects these tools, then mages are likely to use as much power as they can. But if the players know that there are consequences for becoming a "walking talking magic death machine" then they'll have their character play it safer and use more reasonable amounts of power.
Do this and the player will balance their own character by keeping themselves in line, for the same reason a Sam doesn't use a panther assault cannon for every encounter. They could, but they know they'll get into bigger trouble for it. If your game is more pink mohawk and doesn't bother with tracking down players too much, then use background counts to your advantage. Just a general city area should be a -1BC due to pollution and such if I recall correctly.
-
The great advice continues!
As I've mentioned before, this particular spellcaster player and I are in a D&D group together, and it's a very different mindset. D&D worlds are places where magic seems to happen every day to everyone, and you can swing a giant axe into someone's face in the street, and if they deserve it (the probably did), no one is going to look twice. Even as he was summoning his force 5 spirit, and calculating its stats, he said "wow, this spirit seems totally unbalanced." Keep in mind I threw them against the weakest enemies in the game just to see how it would go.
I think one of the keys to Shadowrun might be to look at it as a kind of rock paper scissors match between gear, magic and matrix. Each one can do pretty badass stuff when used correctly. Next run I do for these guys will have a place for each to come into effect.
-
The great advice continues!
As I've mentioned before, this particular spellcaster player and I are in a D&D group together, and it's a very different mindset. D&D worlds are places where magic seems to happen every day to everyone, and you can swing a giant axe into someone's face in the street, and if they deserve it (the probably did), no one is going to look twice. Even as he was summoning his force 5 spirit, and calculating its stats, he said "wow, this spirit seems totally unbalanced." Keep in mind I threw them against the weakest enemies in the game just to see how it would go.
I think one of the keys to Shadowrun might be to look at it as a kind of rock paper scissors match between gear, magic and matrix. Each one can do pretty badass stuff when used correctly. Next run I do for these guys will have a place for each to come into effect.
Yeah, the spirits can seem unbalanced. However, just remind the player what happens if he critically glitches the Summoning test... ;)
-
I make a big deal out of astral magicians' inability to tell the difference between walls and doors, and to read stuff. Plus I really enjoy the planning section of a run, so them finding and using the layout etc. is all good by me.
-
I make a big deal out of astral magicians' inability to tell the difference between walls and doors, and to read stuff. Plus I really enjoy the planning section of a run, so them finding and using the layout etc. is all good by me.
Take note however that they can walk through it regardless of it it's a door or a wall, and that they can still 'hear' conversations in the astral realm as if he was there. He could over hear them talking about something. The mundane also have a chance to "sense" someone who passed through them in astral.
-
I make a big deal out of astral magicians' inability to tell the difference between walls and doors...
Just because something is dull and grey doesn't mean it loses its shape. The doorknobs/hamdles/pulls, surrounding bezel/frame and the slightgaps and depressions around the edges of any door would still give them away.
-
i agree that they can't tell the difference tween doors and walls, i also agree that it really doesn't matter as long as the walls not covered in something alive. covered in formerly living matter is something else entirely.
-
Just because something is dull and grey doesn't mean it loses its shape. The doorknobs/hamdles/pulls, surrounding bezel/frame and the slightgaps and depressions around the edges of any door would still give them away.
But it's all the same colour and texture. If they spent time closely examining the walls then I'd let them notice these things, but otherwise no.
-
Just because something is dull and grey doesn't mean it loses its shape. The doorknobs/hamdles/pulls, surrounding bezel/frame and the slightgaps and depressions around the edges of any door would still give them away.
But it's all the same colour and texture. If they spent time closely examining the walls then I'd let them notice these things, but otherwise no.
Ever looked at a 3D model of a building that's doesn't have any colors or textures added? I have, thanks to 3D drafting programs I've worked with. Same color and texture doesn't mean same light level, and the raised edges of the bezel and knob, as well as the gaps around the edge, all create areas of highlight and shadow that make the door pretty instantly recognizable even as a grey-skinned outline.
I'm not saying they'd be able to tell the colors, textures, material (well, maybe a wood surface-layer from non-wood, but nothing else and not what's underneath), if its locked, or anything else, just that there's a door-shaped set of features protruding from the wall... well, unless there were no shadows to give depth to the object. Of course, there might not be; I haven't studied the Astral Projection stuff too closely. Still, that's the only reason I can think of that you wouldn't be able to tell a door in a casual look around a room.
I could understand requiring them to burn a Simple Action for "Study in Detail" in combat, but if they're not working in bullet-time (pun intended) it's just plain silly to actually make them declare a search to go "Hmmm, raised rectangle a couple inches thick with a crack along the inner edge and a knobbly bit about waist height alone one side of the panel in the middle. Wow, let me go study this in detail and see if I can figure out what this mysterious feature might be!!"
-
True enough, though one person's comment above makes me have to ask...
can you not pass through wooden doors since it was once living? I thought it had to be actively alive in order not to be able to pass through it, but that leads me to my next confusing part....
can we pass through the aura's of living people? For someone like a mundane to sense something magical just passed through them they can make a perception test of (4) i believe. So is it possible to pass through people living things? Why is that?
-
i was trying ( and apparently failing) to imply blood splatter on said door
through wood and other formerly alive materials, pass right through.
passing through still alive things, not so much. (not at all, i think)
through an aura? god only knows, being as it's not actually "on" them (or so i recall)
-
well, unless there were no shadows to give depth to the object. Of course, there might not be; I haven't studied the Astral Projection stuff too closely. Still, that's the only reason I can think of that you wouldn't be able to tell a door in a casual look around a room.
See, that's exactly my understanding - because there's light emanating from almost everything in the astral, there are no shadows as such. I could well be wrong, of course.
-
well, unless there were no shadows to give depth to the object. Of course, there might not be; I haven't studied the Astral Projection stuff too closely. Still, that's the only reason I can think of that you wouldn't be able to tell a door in a casual look around a room.
See, that's exactly my understanding - because there's light emanating from almost everything in the astral, there are no shadows as such. I could well be wrong, of course.
There would probably still be surfaces of objects that are more or less brightly lit than the others. If not, there's no way to see objects in the middle of a room without some sort of 'living' backdrop between them in the wall... stone pillars along the sides of a tile-walled room, or a bunch of statues in the middle of it, for example. They wouldn't even be able to see where one building ends and the next begins unless they could see between them all the way to the horizon or were very carefully looking at the roof-line.
Basically without any form of shading, color, or texture it's nigh-impossible for anyone to decern anything visually except a big, featureless gray swathe with no way to get any sort of distinction between foreground and background.
-
i was trying ( and apparently failing) to imply blood splatter on said door
through wood and other formerly alive materials, pass right through.
passing through still alive things, not so much. (not at all, i think)
through an aura? god only knows, being as it's not actually "on" them (or so i recall)
[/quote
So blood wouldn't allow you to pass through it? I'm still confused if so, because i'm pretty sure i've read that perception for a mage passing "through" you. I'll look it up a little later and see, but i was wondering how they could go through people but not living plants like Ivy growing all around the building.
-
SR4A pg 193 bottom left column
Astral Detection
Physical beings may sense when an astral form passes through their
aura. Make a Perception + Intuition (4) Test; apply a +2 dice pool
bonus if the character is Awakened.
-
i was trying ( and apparently failing) to imply blood splatter on said door
through wood and other formerly alive materials, pass right through.
passing through still alive things, not so much. (not at all, i think)
through an aura? god only knows, being as it's not actually "on" them (or so i recall)
So blood wouldn't allow you to pass through it? I'm still confused if so, because i'm pretty sure i've read that perception for a mage passing "through" you. I'll look it up a little later and see, but i was wondering how they could go through people but not living plants like Ivy growing all around the building.
Remember, living plants and such don't necessarily prevent the astral form from passing through, just make it more difficult. Many of the Astral Security plants don't prevent the mage from entering, but reaction on the physical plane to alert Security that something passed through (luminescent plants that glow when astral bodies are near).
-
so,
normal items (walls, desks, etc) is like walking thru smoke
living non-astrally active things (bob the accountant, a pine tree, etc) are bright, and present a barrier to passing right thru, can (on sucessful percep test) sense you passing thru their aura
astrally active beings (magic users, spirits, etc) are tangible and prolly will fight back if you try to pass thru them.
right or just right-ish?
-
That's the way I understand it.
Oh, and remember, the planet Earth is an Astrally Active being.
-
i was trying ( and apparently failing) to imply blood splatter on said door
through wood and other formerly alive materials, pass right through.
passing through still alive things, not so much. (not at all, i think)
through an aura? god only knows, being as it's not actually "on" them (or so i recall)
So blood wouldn't allow you to pass through it? I'm still confused if so, because i'm pretty sure i've read that perception for a mage passing "through" you. I'll look it up a little later and see, but i was wondering how they could go through people but not living plants like Ivy growing all around the building.
Remember, living plants and such don't necessarily prevent the astral form from passing through, just make it more difficult. Many of the Astral Security plants don't prevent the mage from entering, but reaction on the physical plane to alert Security that something passed through (luminescent plants that glow when astral bodies are near).
Interesting.... o.O'
I thought you couldn't pass through living things. Glowing plants that's an interesting one as well. XD
Wasn't their like an inwall paste or something that blocked mages from going through as well? o.O'
-
i was trying ( and apparently failing) to imply blood splatter on said door
through wood and other formerly alive materials, pass right through.
passing through still alive things, not so much. (not at all, i think)
through an aura? god only knows, being as it's not actually "on" them (or so i recall)
So blood wouldn't allow you to pass through it? I'm still confused if so, because i'm pretty sure i've read that perception for a mage passing "through" you. I'll look it up a little later and see, but i was wondering how they could go through people but not living plants like Ivy growing all around the building.
Remember, living plants and such don't necessarily prevent the astral form from passing through, just make it more difficult. Many of the Astral Security plants don't prevent the mage from entering, but reaction on the physical plane to alert Security that something passed through (luminescent plants that glow when astral bodies are near).
Interesting.... o.O'
I thought you couldn't pass through living things. Glowing plants that's an interesting one as well. XD
Wasn't their like an inwall paste or something that blocked mages from going through as well? o.O'
there is glowmoss, and a few other biologicals that respond to astral presence, or you could build a location that uses "living earth" as a filler in the walls, though my fave was to use a grid of glowmoss "cells" astral sensors, made as a black bulb with a light/food source for the moss and a light detector in each cell, (light on system off, light off system on,) in alternating pairs around any location likely to be approached by astrals,