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Background info on Sasquatches?

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The_Hyphenator

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« on: <04-13-14/1328:03> »
New GM here, kicking around some ideas for my second session in a SR5 campaign (first session is all planned out and runs next weekend). I was toying with the idea of the PCs getting hired by a group of Sasquatches to help them with some trouble they've been having with Humanis or Alamos or another anti-meta group, but the CR doesn't have very much info on Sasquatches besides their base stats and a little bit of flavor. Could somebody point me to a previous edition book with more detail and fluff on these guys?

Thanks in advance!

MortimerBane

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« Reply #1 on: <04-13-14/1716:48> »
Hmmm, I might have to think on this one for a bit.  I don't think there are any Saasquatches in any of the 20+ SR novels I've read.  There might be a little bit of info in the old SR Critters books, like paranormal animals of NA or maybe even critters from the old 3rd ed gm screen... I just don't remember.  Great game idea though.  I try to get back to you on this one after I've dug through some books.

Tecumseh

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« Reply #2 on: <04-14-14/0417:27> »
Running Wild has a dozen references to sasquatches, including the fact that they can have SINs and are generally portrayed in a positive light by the media, but half of the references are talking about how they become bandersnatchii when exposed to HMHVV II.

Runner's Companion has rules on how to make a sasquatch PC.

Jumping into the DeLorean, Sprawl Sites (from 1990) has a Sasquatch Entertainer as a contact.

Also see the brief Shadowrun wiki page for them: http://shadowrun.wikia.com/wiki/Sasquatch

The Wyrm Ouroboros

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« Reply #3 on: <04-18-14/0044:43> »
There isn't much mainly because sasquatches prefer keeping to themselves.  A few go into the cities and, because of their ability to replicate any sound they've heard, get jobs as sound effect guys or other sorts of entertainers.  IIRC, they have a high tendency to be magically active, and those that are are part of various shamanic traditions (i.e. they always get a mentor spirit/totem).  Note that though their language enables them to understand each other just fine, there's something about them - vocal cords combined with the way their mind works - that makes them completely unable to learn to speak human languages.  (Understand, yes, at least to an extent, but speak, no.)  Communication with them is via a unique sign language - not ASL.

As for your bad guys, Humanis and Alamos are likely to ignore sasquatches; they're a complete different species, non-metahuman, and are unable to interbreed; they're considered sentient paranormals, not 'humans'.  You'd be better off making your bad guys either a group of gangers who are harassing a small tribe that's living in some comparatively-forested and non-toxic area of one of the Barrens or one of the low-security normal districts, or a tribe whose area in the Salish-Sidhe has been discovered to have some valuable mineral on it, and a corporation is trying to harass them to leave the land so that they can buy and exploit it.  Maybe the sasquatches can offer a little bit of the valuable mineral (gold, silver, whatever) as payment, since these guys aren't likely to be sporting mirrorshades, thousand-nuyen suits, commlinks, and credsticks ...
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The_Hyphenator

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« Reply #4 on: <04-19-14/1513:08> »
There isn't much mainly because sasquatches prefer keeping to themselves.  A few go into the cities and, because of their ability to replicate any sound they've heard, get jobs as sound effect guys or other sorts of entertainers.  IIRC, they have a high tendency to be magically active, and those that are are part of various shamanic traditions (i.e. they always get a mentor spirit/totem).  Note that though their language enables them to understand each other just fine, there's something about them - vocal cords combined with the way their mind works - that makes them completely unable to learn to speak human languages.  (Understand, yes, at least to an extent, but speak, no.)  Communication with them is via a unique sign language - not ASL.

As for your bad guys, Humanis and Alamos are likely to ignore sasquatches; they're a complete different species, non-metahuman, and are unable to interbreed; they're considered sentient paranormals, not 'humans'.  You'd be better off making your bad guys either a group of gangers who are harassing a small tribe that's living in some comparatively-forested and non-toxic area of one of the Barrens or one of the low-security normal districts, or a tribe whose area in the Salish-Sidhe has been discovered to have some valuable mineral on it, and a corporation is trying to harass them to leave the land so that they can buy and exploit it.  Maybe the sasquatches can offer a little bit of the valuable mineral (gold, silver, whatever) as payment, since these guys aren't likely to be sporting mirrorshades, thousand-nuyen suits, commlinks, and credsticks ...

Thanks for the feedback! Good point about Alamos and Humanis; I'd forgotten that technically Sasquatches are paracritters, not metahumans. I was actually thinking that the Johnson for this run would be an aide for a UCAS Congressman or Senator whose main political platform is metahuman and meta-sapient rights (and thus he would have the bankroll necessary to hire runners), which could in turn lead to the politico in question giving the runners more work. I'm trying to give my group more hooding-type missions, or at least ones that are on the lighter side of morally-gray (though I'll probably throw them plenty of missions that involve helping one corp screw another; somebody's going to make money on that, after all, might as well be them).