[Thvor]

I'm looking to pull together a game using the new 5E rules. Specifically, I'd like a team of four (4) runners for a game set in and around Seattle, 2075. This is NOT first-come, first-served. To be considered, post your basic character concept here or PM it to me; I'll announce who is in the game once I'm happy with the team's concepts and balance--probably some time Monday. At that point, I'll want full character sheets sent to me via PM within the week.

Note: Do not post a complete character sheet to this thread; anyone who does so will automatically forfeit their chance for that character to participate (though there can be forgiveness for the player). This is done for the simple reason that your characters do not know each other--they don't know their strengths, weaknesses, etc., and so neither will you know that information about the other characters. If your character wants to tell the others about her BTL addiction, that's her call; they should not know about it before it comes up in game.

House rules:

• I will be paying attention to your qualities--positive and negative--and utilizing them during the game, so make sure they're things you're willing to deal with (and not just sources of free karma).
• Note that the current version of the manual has several inconsistencies; if you run into one of these, please contact me for an official GM's ruling. I'll do my best to be fair about everything.
• All characters must have a reasonable backstory. This is expected to cover things like how and why your character became a Runner, how they met their contacts, how they discovered their magical/resonance abilities (if appropriate), how they got their augmentations/gear, and so on. If I feel you haven't fleshed your character out appropriately, I will request additional details. Expect things from your past to get woven into what happens in the present.
• Knowledge skills will be used; however, I reserve the right to declare that you have a certain level of knowledge in anything you don't think to take, but which your character has a reasonable expectation of knowing. So don't sweat those too much.
• In order to keep things moving, I may make passive rolls (especially perception) for you. I may or may not tell you that a roll has occurred, and I may or may not tell you how well you did. If I do make a roll for you, I will not count glitches.

Character Generation: Since Chummer hasn't been updated to support 5E yet, I'm going to need more information from you than usual. Most importantly, when sending me a character sheet, include your priorities. If your numbers appear to be off, I'll attempt to re-create your build myself for validation.

My GM Style: My view is that tabletop RPG's are largely about working together to tell a story. This has a couple of implications: first, the rules provide a framework, but they are secondary to the story itself; second, the collaborative nature means that I'm building the story around your actions. I will start with an overall view of where I expect things to go, but if your decisions take the story in a different direction, I'll adjust on the fly (and hope that it's not too obvious! ). I've GM'd around a table, but this will be my first time doing so in PbP. This will also be my first 5E game, though that's probably going to be true for most of us.

Above all, my hope is that we'll have fun with this.

[Thvor]

This space is reserved for FAQs and/or announcements.

Players

• Chrona, playing Mathias Ledger
• Crossbow, playing Devon Harris
• Novocrane, playing Matthias Eiseman
• Panzergeist, playing Erik Marcuson

Official GM Rulings^(tm):

• Technomancers will lose resonance the same as magic users lose magic--if your essence is 5.5 and you get a minor bit of 'ware that drops it to 5.3, your resonance will not change. Dropping it to below 5.0, however, would incur a penalty. This overrules the section on page 250 which implies that any time a technomancer loses even a fraction of essence, they lose a full point of resonance, which seems overly cruel.

[Panzergeist]

I'm in.  I've already created 2 characters- a Face/Infiltrator adept with some close combat skills, and a technomancer who is damn near helpless in the physical world.  Would like to try making a street same, shaman/investigator, and even a mystic adept.  The two characters I've already made have been submitted to the other game that's recruiting right now, so I'll submit one or both ones the GM in that game picks people.  Will work on a couple more characters though, because I want to have a few on-hand for when games come up.

What kind of group balance are you looking for?  Decker/sam/mage/stealther, something like that? 

[Thvor]

What kind of group balance are you looking for?  Decker/sam/mage/stealther, something like that?

I'm willing to be somewhat flexible on the team balance; part of my job as GM is to make sure that the opposition is a reasonable challenge for the team. That said, I doubt any Johnson is going to hire three deckers and a shaman, for instance; they're much more likely to be looking for a group that hits all the bases--matrix, astral, and beating people up.

Incidentally, characters who stray away from the standards are also going to be more likely to pique my interest. 5E seems to provide some interesting possibilities that just weren't viable in 4E.

[imperialus]

I'd love to be in.

Elevator Pitch is a bit invalid now.  I posted again down below.

Decker, ex White Hat hacker with someone big (either AA or AAA).  Was part of a team that developed a new wiz hot program (be it IC, an attack program ect.)  The project was the target of a run though, and someone spoofed his persona, making off with the source code for the program and uploading it to a pirate site.  Higher ups decided that he'd make a good scapegoat, even if it was pretty obvious that he wasn't actually involved.

PC got wind of the plan though and did a run on the systems himself while arranging for his own extraction making off with all the wiz programs and other stuff he'd need to ply his trade outside the walls.  He's been on the outside looking in since.

Generally speaking he's pretty new to the shadows.  Wiz with a cyberdeck, and knows security architecture and protocols like the back of his hand, but since he's used to being ligit he's a bit naive when it comes to doing things like "covering his tracks" and "Avoiding GOD".  He has basic meat world combat training since he was technically part of the security division, and he might be called into provide matrix support during a physical encounter but it's far from his specialty.

[Redwulfe]

I love story based games and since I was an actor I am willing to play many different roles. I am never as tied to the role as I am to the overall story so I will pitch several concepts and if you like one I would love to play it in your game or even if you need a different role fulfilled would be happy to make up a character for it. Here are the ones I thought up:

1. Ex combat biker who now works covertly in ares' field research division. Basically he goes out and tests experimental weapons, armor and drugs in combat situations. This was a concept a friend of mine played in a game a ran and it was really fun so I thought I would put it up here and try it out myself. This character will act a bit unstable and put himself in situations that other runners may find a bit uncomfortable. This is because he needs to get shot to test armor, walk through metal detectors with illegal weaponry to see if the new plastics can pass the MAD scanners or start a fight to see if the new edge will actually cut through full combat armor and the such. He's basically a walking complication for the story.

2. My standby occult investigator LoJack. He is a basic magical research kinda guy your private detective type that in the modern world is not as lucrative as running the shadows. He tries to become legitimate though but his criminal SIN and shady past keep him locked firmly in the shadows.

3. The most magnificent decker I/O. Hacker extraordinaire and the best cyber jock there ever was. A hot young kid working with the Neo-Anarchist policlub, I/O was on his way to becoming a street legend until a run in with a particular nasty piece of black ice not only cost the Anarchists dearly but left him a shell of his former glory. Now drug addicted with a nasty rep for botching up he is struggling to make ends meet and regain his rep. His only friend left in the world his fixer just got him his one chance to become something again, hopefully this time he can keep it together and not get someone killed in the process.

4. My next character is one I have made and submitted to another campaign, but will see if he would work here or not. Here is the blurb for his background.

Name: John Doe
Alias: Smiling Jack
Race: Human
Sex: Male

Physical Description: Black hair, Blue eyes, average build and features except for a scar on the right side of his mouth making him look like he always has a half cocked smile. He has darker complexion that speaks of some ethnicity but this features make it hard to put your figure on. If it wasn't for the scar on his right check you would think he was perfect. Unknown to most the scar is not real, he puts on to help make himself distinguished as well as it makes it easy to become indistinguishable in a moments notice.

Personality/background Smiling Jack is a social chameleon, no matter the crowd he always seems to fit in. Knowing not only the right thing to say but also when to say it comes natural to Jack. The only person Jack is uncomfortable with, however, is himself. Three years ago Jack woke up in an abandoned building with no clue as to who he was. He had been striped naked by the squatters and before he could look around to get his wits a group of men came in the building to forcibly take him. It was only by chance and luck that he made his escape. The group was organ-leggers, seems the squatters wanted some quick cred. It would have been a good price too due to the cyberware he had running through his body. Jack made his way to a local free clinic and the doctor said he was suffering from amnesia from a severe blow to the head. Unable to pay Jack started working at the clinic helping repair the run down facility. Several months passed before Jack was able to make it back to the spot he woke in. The ceiling above where he woke up had collapsed and no one in the area knew anything about him. who was he? why was he here? and what was he doing? 6 months after starting to work for the Doc he contacted a regular at the clinic to get a job. The client was a fixer called Johnny Reno He saw Jack had skills and Jack needed to get back on his feet. Since Jack started working for Reno things have picked up. His talents are well payed for and life seems good on the surface, even though he still yearns to find the key to his past. Jack still visits and helps out at the clinic both financially and physically, the old troll woman he lovingly calls Soba, that runs the place is the closest thing to a mother jack has, between her and Reno they are the only true family he's got.

5. I have a Mystical Adept version of the character above that was attached to a theatre troop that works in the Ork Underground. He used magic to become anyone instead of skill wires and makeup. Basically  the shapeshift, physical mask, alter memories, fashion, and makeup spells with adept abilities such as facial sculpt and voice control. Both are social infiltrators with face skills. In the Mage version he is in a metamagical group that is similar to IATSE but they use magic to enhance theatrical and for that matter any stage performance. This version was something I played in 4th but some of the abilities are no longer present until they come out with the splatbooks. I can however adapt and improvise to make something similar with the current rules though.

Thanks,
Red

[White Flare]

I'd like to try out, I'm running a 5e game and I'd like to get some player time with the new rules.

Mechanically the character is a mundane Sniper\Infiltrator type character with some minor social skills. So sneaking in t place and providing fire support, and being able to handle himself in social infiltration.

White Flare is a Tir Tangier born elf. He studied political science  for a couple ears in college but found it didn't suit him so he dropped out and joined the military. In the Tir army his skill as a marksman got him selected for a special unit, an off the books covert team used for deniable operations. Most of the operatives selected were profiled to find people that were especially loyal and nationalistic. For a few years they carried out shadow ops, mostly in California and the NaN, ops that often involved a lot of grey areas, and occasionally some downright black ones. But then it came crashing down, the unit's existence got leaked to the press and rather than answer for thing they'd been doing the Tir officially denied the unit existed and tried to cover the whole thing up. The official story is that the ops were carried out by "an unknown elven terrorist group." White Flare got his SIN erased, a dishonorable discharge and a bus ticket to Seattle.

With little else to fall back on and no home to go back to, White Flare started running the shadows. White Flare specializes in wetwork and has little qualms about it. This combined with rumors about his past give him a bad reputation with most other runners who find him cold hearted and too willing to take dirty jobs. But he gets the job done. Some minor work with the local mafia have got him some contacts there. Also one of the leaders of his former unit also relocated to Seattle to run guns. White Flare lives as big as can spending as much of his run money in fancy nightclubs and restaurants. He is often vain and self-centered, but knows the value of a good running crew.

So the only main quality I'd want is Bad Rep, but I know thats not Missions legal so we can change it to a Tir National Sin if thats an issue.

[Panzergeist]

Actually, a great idea for a mystic adept that I really want to try out just came to me.  Basically, he's an ork mystic adept with Thor (dragonslayer) as his totem, combat-focused, carries a big sword and likes to use that just as much as his magic.  Cunningly insightful about some things, shockingly naive about others.  Also kind of a do-gooder. 

So my question are
a) Any house rules on mystic adepts, given the controversy that seems to surround them? 
b)Are you okay with me creating my own mystical tradition?  I want him to be an Asatru (Norse gods) practitioner.  Obviously I can'y port over the additional spirit types from the SR4 magic book, but I'd like to change up the spell-spirit associations a bit.  And also associate each spell-spirit pair with a particular Norse god, for him at least (no mechanics to that, just part of his religion). 
c) Would a character with a hint of do-gooderism be out of place in this group?  He's cool with being a runner and working for money, but he has a strong good-guy streak and won't be down with, say, shutting down a local non-profit hospice so the corps can take over the land it's on. 

[dragonfire]

I have a couple I'd like to throw into the ring.

1. Ex Red Samurai (Ryuu). As is the case with most Red Samurai teams, he trained and graduated camp with his team. They were one of the most efficient and savage security teams for Renraku locally. Unfortunately, jealousy tends to target such groups. His team was framed as betraying Renraku by a fellow Red Samurai team. While on a mission, his team was ambushed by Renraku forces. He narrowly escaped with only some gear and his katana. Having been left for dead, Ryuu escaped to the only place he knew where someone with his military background and training could hope to make a living, the shadows. He now uses his skills to survive long enough to find the team that betrayed him and avenge his former team. Having tempered his skills on some of the most vicious missions for Renraku, there aren't many jobs that he won't take.

2. Bad luck can hit us all, and the rich and powerful are no exception. Johnny "Shakespeare" Roberts was raised for the stage. His parents were local stage performers, his father specializing in method acting and his mother in performance makeup. They were a picturesque family who new very little of the hardships that the city has to offer. That was, until their theater troupe went bankrupt. You see, with the proliferation of BTL and Trivid entertainment, fewer and fewer people were attending their stage performances. Further, plays like The Tempest lack their intrigue with figures more grotesque and alien than Caliban running around in the sixth world. Having to abandon their suburb life for the sprawls, Johnny's parents were ill equipped for the dangers of the sprawl. Those dangers ended up getting the best of them when they were caught in a firefight while leaving their apartment. On his own, Johnny proceeded to take one dead end job after another, eventually ending up working at a local Stuffer Shack. One night, the stuffer shack was held up at gun point. Johnny talked the robber down, exhibiting professional control over his communication. In a turn of luck, one of the patrons of the shack was a man who went only by Johnson. He was impressed with Johnny's ability to remain calm under pressure and stated that his talents were wasted in such a lowly position. If Johnny ever wanted to make some major creds, he should give him a call. Since, Johnny has served as negotiator for multiple deals with Mr. Johnson. Whenever there's a job that requires masterful control of one's body, Mr. Johnson knows he has an ace in the hole.

3. On the surface, Teddy Freeman appears to be a successful stock broker. He lives in a luxury rooftop apartment in one of the most expensive complexes in Downtown. His maids and security forces may be  a bit puzzled by some of the guests that he has over, but for the creds they're getting to do their jobs, they're not about to question anything. In reality, Teddy Freeman is "Rags". A dealer known throughout the sprawl as the go to for any addict's needs. BTL, novacoke, zen, deepweed, escorts, the list goes on. He has the connections to get you what you want and the silver tongue to make sure that you're paying  a premium. Now, don't let this all fool you. While he's protected in his fortress, he's no stranger to the streets. Rags grew up on them, and didn't get this high up on the ladder by not getting his hands dirty. When there's a collection to be made or a new cowboy setting up shop in his territory, Rags prefers to personally handle his business. Addiction, however, is like any market. There's ups and downs and Rags has grown accustom to his lifestyle. When the going gets tough and he needs a few more creds to keep up the security detail in his apartment, he's not above taking to the shadows to make that extra bread. Not like a client is going to turn down someone who not only has the skills to get the job done, but the connections to make sure that you're satisfaction is always guaranteed.

4. Tank didn't know what his real name was. He was raised in the Barrens, but could not tell you how he ended up there. He did stand out a bit, but that will happen when you're a Troll. It's a bit hard not to stand out like a sore thumb. Tank was found in an alley one night, while some gangers were heading home from a local dive bar. They heard some rustling around behind some garbage and decided that they felt like unloading some stress. They fired half a clip each into the garbage to see what was causing all the ruckus. To their surprise, they found a little Troll. Though, little is subjective. What they found was Tank at age 3, standing at around three feet tall. He was covered in filth and had been rummaging through garbage looking for food. To their surprise, he seemed barely phased by their assault and looked at them with blank naive eyes. One of the gangers had a flash of brilliance and decided to take the Troll under his wing. This proved a boon for the gangers. Tank seemed nearly immune to mystical assault. This coupled with his natural resiliency to physical damage earned him his name and reputation among the street urchins. His near indestructible exterior mixed with his limited cognitive abilities provided the amateur criminals with quite an edge over the competition. All they had to do was point him in the right direction and let him utilize his natural talents for destruction. Tank was happy to just be fed regularly and felt like a part of a family. Through the years, Tank was forged into a formidable machine of destruction. Sure, he was better at taking order than giving them and sometimes found himself getting a little carried away in the heat of a battle, but that type of brutality has a place in the streets. Besides, it helps when you tower over your opponents and can brush off a stunbolt to the face. Whether ripping apart enemies with his bare hands, cutting through the very fabrics of the astral plane to pummel a spirit, or unloading a clip of machine gun rounds into a rival gang's hideout, Tank loves and lives for the carnage.

There's my ideas. Let me know and I can send character sheets for more detail.

[imperialus]

Slight change of tone (if not theme) I wanted to give him a bit more agency.

At any rate, here's a short vignette about how Jonathan entered the shadow scene.

Henry Rosenburg (or rather Jonathan  Erikson now) eyed the mapsoft display hovering in his AR vision nervously as the suborbital gained altitude over the ocean leaving LAX,  the city of angels, and indeed his entire life behind him…  He watched the minutes and seconds count down as he waited for the plane to enter international airspace before turning north towards Seattle.   He’d been preparing for this moment for months, over a year actually, ever since he found that hidden piece of code in the latest Horizon adsofts.  He had been careful, never leaving a trace as he duplicated the high security files, subtly funneling money into an account up in Vancouver and meeting in the virtual equivalent of dark alleys and dingy bars with some of the hottest info-warriors on the planet.  They had provided him with everything he needed to start a new life in the shadows, a freshly minted SIN, contacts in Seattle, and a fat stack of nuyen to get him started… 

Even Horizon had helped him out without realizing it, transferring him into the matrix support unit of the physical security division when he asked to even though a lot of his co-workers saw it as a demotion.  Horizon had given him his wires, and trained him how to shoot and avoid being shot.  He was as ready for this as he could be, as ready as anyone could be, and it was almost time…
As the minutes counted down into seconds, his palms began to sweat and an acrid taste formed in the back of his throat.  There was no going back after this.  Horizon would geek him on sight, assuming they didn’t fry his brain and just reprogram him.  Taking a deep breath and downing the scotch he had ordered in a single gulp he stood up and walked to the rest room.

Staring at himself in the mirror Henry (Jonathan DAMNIT!) pulled a cheap plastic comlink from his inside coat pocket.  It wasn’t his real rig, and for this it wasn’t the hardware that mattered, only what was on it.  He stared at the blinking icon in his AR display and worked up the courage to activate it… He could still turn back now… It wasn’t too late.  His boss thought Henry was on vacation to Hawaii, a couple weeks downtime is all.  He could smash this comlink right now, lie low in Seattle for a couple weeks, order some cheap souvenirs off the matrix and go back to work like nothing happened.

No, he couldn’t do that!  This drek was fragging dangerous, and people needed to know about it.  It would slag Horizons rep once it hit the trids, at least the channels they didn’t control, but most of all it would render the whole thing useless once it hit the pirate sites.  It’d mean years of R&D down the drain, but frag it, it probably wouldn’t even affect their bottom line.

Taking a deep breath Jonathan hit the upload link…  He stopped breathing while he watched the file upload… It was done.  Pulling the battery out of the link he smashed it against the edge of the counter.  He was free, Horizon just got one hell of a black eye, and…  and… the acrid ball in his stomach suddenly came up with a vengeance and Jonathan puked his guts up into the toilet.

[Crunch]

I'm very interested. I'll put together a pitch and have something for you by tomorrow.

[ZombieAcePilot]

Here is my character concept, an ex-docwagon employee turned shadowrunner after torqing off the corp and getting tossed to the gutter.

When I went to medical school I never dreamed I'd be packing a colt cobra on the job. Back when I rolled with High Threat Response I had my fair share of drek hit the fan. I assure you, geeking the mage is still alive and well. You learn to shoot back between applying pressure and mojo or you eat a bullet. Not quite the career I imagined when I was learning to perform surgery. Not everyone is cut out for it either. I was a natural. I could stuff your guts back in, staple it all up, and drop some smug trog and still manage to haul your ass out of the fire in time to perform emergency life saving surgery. I even got targeted by crash cart for extraction once. Good times.

You can only see so much blood and gore before you begin to wonder about what you are doing. What made our clients more worthy of saving then the street kids shooting at them? At some point you want to tell them to go home to their mothers before they get hurt. It never works out quite like that though. They all have something to prove or something worse waiting back in the barrens for them. Now when they start shooting at you, you feel less sorry for them. You pull the trigger because that's what you do if you want to make it back to the barracks in one piece. At least that's how it usually went down...

The client is always first in the field. But that frak head was trying to extract some exec's kid. Shot the kid in the leg when he tried to run. I let him bleed and saved the kid. Frak head didn't even have the decency to live. How was I supposed to know he was a platinum member? The corp turned me out and burned ties faster then you could reload your rifle. When I went to load back up with the team I was stripped of all company property and left at the curb with orders not to come back or else.

Since then I've had to make my own way. I've seen a lot more of those kids from the barrens eat it since then, but now I'm on the opposite side. I can't say it has quite the same sparkle as my old life, but I can hold my head a little higher knowing my work isn't just for the rich and powerful anymore. I make a decent living playing doc on the street, but instead of trips to lacies I now give back to the community that has taken me in. If only they knew that I used to play for the other team... well I don't even want to think about what would happen if they knew.

[Scarecrow71]

I would be down for some of this home cooking.  Got a couple ideas in my head, and I need to get near my books, but the one that's coming to the forefront is a chip head magician, burned out on snuff BTL.


When I hit the books I will edit this post with a bit more detail.

[Dragonslayer]

I've got a pitch.

Run-Down is from the Tir, former Peace Force and before that a military MP.  He left Portland in disgust after getting his career shitcanned for arresting a noble's brat for trog hunting.  Brat resisted arrest, and RD perhaps hammered him harder than he should have.

Having a black mark in the Tir makes it hard to find legit work, and the shadows always need Runners. He was doing fairly well for himself, but a job went sideways and RD had to relocate. The only problem is the noble brat, whose inherited his deceased father's title, and wants him dead.

All that fuss over a few broken bones.

[Csjarrat]

My pitch is for a girl called Kyoko Hideko, known in the shadows as flea.
Flea is a free-runner Adept, who served her national service in the IJA as a signals officer, picking up skills in electronic warfare and subterfuge. She saw some action in the Korean campaign as a peackeeper, and her division was sent to intercept signals from the insurgency.
Flea and her father came to Seattle after her national service had finished. Her father worked for Renraku in R&D and was transferred internally to seattle's research branch, though he was never allowed to tell Flea about his work.
His influence within the company secured flea a low ranking job as a spider for renraku, but her employment was terminated the same day her father died at work. She found herself blacklisted, griefstricken and alone. Her corporate lodgings were taken away from her and very little information was given to her about her father's mysterious death in service.
Circumstances forced her into the shadows, after a few courier runs utilising her freerunning skills, she began to find regular work for a black market weapons dealer. Flea can get deliveries into areas they really ought not to be, and her electronic warfare skills can get the inside info on the competition.

in game-terms she prioritises the freerunning more than the decking, i wanted her to be a decent multi-role character; she can hold her own in combat, perform leg-work/recon and deck to a basic level too.