On the Verge of War

RECRUITMENT IS CLOSED! STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT INSTALLMENT!

Trouble is brewing in the Barrens...

Let's get one thing straight: Your life sucks. Why? 'Cause you live in the Barrens, omae. Everything around you has gone to drek. But I've got good news for your sorry self. There's a way out. Yeah, I know you've heard it before. "Star in this snuff BTL and we'll give you everything you've ever wanted!" Then your personafix chip shorts out and you wake up on a water bed with a goat. But this is a legit opportunity, chummer, the real bleeding deal. There's a war going on, and you're invited.

<INCOMING FEED> ... <BUFFERING> ... <PLAYBACK - TITLE: The Verge>
The last major eruption of Mount Rainier sent tons of ash pouring down on the south and eastern parts of the Seattle metroplex. One heavily affected area was the border between southeast Redmond and Salivsh-Shidhe territory, now known as the Verge. Both sides of the border largely washed their hands of having to clean up or deal with the ashfall, since they had other priorities. Federated-Boeing negotiated the purchase of the land with the metroplex government, largely as a public relations move. There were press releases, video statements, and a little ceremony about how FB could develop the area, then nothing. Maybe the whole stunt didn’t generate as much good press as FB hoped, or they just lost interest. Whatever the case, the squatters soon moved back into the area, taking over the empty buildings and storefronts, digging things out as best they could, and life (such as it is) resumed.
<END FEED>

There's a new frontier out in the Barrens, and the crime lords want their hands on it. Currently, two gangs are looking to expand their turf into the Verge: The Crimson Crush and the First Nations.

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CRIMSON CRUSH The Crimson Crush started out as one of the many metahuman gangs that formed in the wake of the Night of Rage, both to keep strangers out of their neighborhoods and to punish any humans stupid enough to come sniffng around. The all-ork gang has since taken on some of the qualities of the Yakuza in their relationship with the neighborhood, becoming the closest thing the locals have to law enforcement and a “neighborhood watch” group. The Crush takes care of its own, like after the Crash, when they cracked skulls to keep order and distributed food, water, and medicine to people in need (some of which they “liberated” from warehouses and convoys). They take “tribute” from the local businesses, but at least provide some actual security in exchange for it, and deal chips in nearby Touristville, mainly to out-of-towners. Members of the Crimson Crush still mistrust humans in general, and any signs of Humanis activity are like a red flag to them (no pun intended); they go after it like a raging bull.

FIRST NATIONS An all Native American gang (although their standards aren’t much more stringent than NAN immigration), the First Nations used to control turf on the docks north of the Arcology. These days they focus on Everett and Council Island, where they pretty much control the illegal brainbender trade (drugs and chips) and run some protection scams. Led by a Salish elf named Blood-of-the-Buffalo, the gang is big on being more fiercely Native than anyone, and plenty of the members born well after the Ghost Dance War ended talk wistfully about how they wish they’d had a chance to take back land from the white-eyes. Like you might expect, they’ve got some shamanic and adept muscle to back up those ambitions.

Character generation will involve special rules:

• All characters have 550 Karma Points and can only use 225 for standard attributes.
  
• German Errata is used.
  
• Max Natural Attributes are 5 + racial modifiers. Max Magic is 4, Edge is 4/5 for humans.
  
• Skills are capped at 3 with one at 5 or two at 4.
  
• Max base starting cash is 150k and Born Rich is not allowed. In Debt may be taken but it does not provide any KP.
  
• Gear is capped at 8 availability, with an exception for a hot-sim modified sim module, which is normally 12. Restricted Gear is not allowed.
  
• All characters are SINless and do not have access to fake SINs, but they may earn a legal or fake one during play (plot sensitive).
  
• Changelings are capped at Class 1. A character can take one metagenetic quality for 10 KP and a Gene Freak quality for a 10 KP bonus (minor deformity that can be covered up, -1 to social interactions when it is visible) or a total of 20 KPs of metagenetic qualities and a Gene Freak quality for a 20 KP bonus (major deformity that is not easily covered, -2 to social interactions when it is visible, -1 when it is obscured, and +1 to Intimidation tests when it is visible). This is the nature of the Redmond Barrens, after all. These qualities do count toward the 70 KP maximum.
  
• All characters start out with the School of Hard Knocks quality for free, and it does not count toward the 70 KP maximum.
  
• Characters get Charisma x 4 in free Contact KPs. It is recommended that the characters have at least one contact affiliated with one of the hiring gangs. Note that the characters themselves should not be in a gang.
  
• Characters get (Logic + Intuition) x 3 in free Knowledge Skill KPs. Remember that School of Hard Knocks modifies all Street Knowledge Skills by +1.

I will likely also put up a house rules page that may alter people's chargen considerations. For example, for hacking, I will use Logic+Skill with hits capped by Program Rating, with special accommodations for Technomancers.

Here's an example character I've created using the special rules: Donny "Double Decker" Douglas

Nailz is ready to ride for this campaign
Nailz

I would like to submit a character for this game
Gunslinger

EDIT:
Chargen rules and Donny updated! Players who need assistance with Karmagen, which is found in the Runner's Companion sourcebook, send me your sheets via PM and I will help you rework them.

any more room here, I can make a PC is a few hours.

Prof

Always recruiting!

I'll put this guy in characters when you give me the go-ahead.


Azrael


Metatype : Human

Attributes
Body: 3
Agility: 3
Reaction: 3
Strength: 3
Charisma: 3
Intuition: 3
Logic: 5
Willpower: 5

Edge: 4
Magic: 4
Initiative: 6
Essence: 6

Knowledge Skills
English : N
Latin : 3
Cantonese : 3
Seattle Street Gangs : 4
Magic Background : 3
Magical Threats : 3
Area Knowledge : 4
Safe Houses : 4

Active Skills
Spellcasting (Combat) : 4
Counterspelling : 3
Arcana : 2
Assensing : 3
Astral Combat : 3
Perception : 3
Pilot Ground Craft : 3
Computer : 2
Data Search : 2
First Aid : 2
Dodge : 3
Blades : 3
Etiquette (Street Gang) : 3
Negotiation : 3


Positive Qualities
Mentor Spirit(DragonSlayer, +2 Combat Spells, +2 Etiquette)
School of Hard Knocks
Magician


Negative Qualities

Weapons
Rapier
Survival Knife

Armors
Clothing (Regular)
Lined Coat

Vehicles
Yamaha Growler (Off-Road Bike)

Commlinks
Commlink : Renraku Sensei
OS : Mangadyne Deva
Browse (Rating 4)
Edit (Rating 4)
Analyze (Rating 4)
AR Gloves
Subvocal Microphone
Tag Eraser

Equipments
Magical Lodge Materials (Rating 4)
Weapon Focus (Rating 1)
Sustaining Focus (Rating 2)
+ Radio Signal Scanner (Rating 6)
Glasses
+Image Link

Spells
Napalm
Stunball
Laser
Offensive Mana Barrier
Mob Mind

Spirits

Contacts
Sambo (L:5 C:3)
Kid brother, in the Crimson Crush

Contacts
Rinaldi (L:1 C:3)
Talislegger, good for no-questions-asked merchandise. Even when you really should ask.

Charcter submit: see Asha , Adept infiltrator, Theif and assassin.

I'm interested in this run. I am working up my character (concept and build) and will post it shortly.

Cool! I've got the base skeleton of the plot figured out, so I might post an introductory thread soon.

So no restricted gear essentially means no guns (or smartlinks) for the characters, right?

Also, on the attributes cap of 225, is that total or exclusive of the 2x KP for meta type. In other words, a dwarf would have a max of 265 to spend (1/2 of starting KP + 2x 20 KP for meta type.)

lvmises wrote:

So no restricted gear essentially means no guns (or smartlinks) for the characters, right?

No, it means to have a look how forbidden the gun is, My taser has the Av of 0 and the smartlink is 6 so i am ok, just do not get the milspec stuff.

Kouryuu.LV wrote:

lvmises wrote:

So no restricted gear essentially means no guns (or smartlinks) for the characters, right?

No, it means to have a look how forbidden the gun is, My taser has the Av of 0 and the smartlink is 6 so i am ok, just do not get the milspec stuff.

Maybe I'm not understanding what is meant by "Restricted Gear is not allowed." Every firearm has an availability of #R or #F and a smartlink is rated 6R ("restricted").

lvmises wrote:

Kouryuu.LV wrote:

lvmises wrote:

So no restricted gear essentially means no guns (or smartlinks) for the characters, right?

No, it means to have a look how forbidden the gun is, My taser has the Av of 0 and the smartlink is 6 so i am ok, just do not get the milspec stuff.

Maybe I'm not understanding what is meant by "Restricted Gear is not allowed." Every firearm has an availability of #R or #F and a smartlink is rated 6R ("restricted").

he meant the quality not the gear, at least as far as i know.

Kouryuu.LV wrote:

lvmises wrote:

Kouryuu.LV wrote:

lvmises wrote:

So no restricted gear essentially means no guns (or smartlinks) for the characters, right?

No, it means to have a look how forbidden the gun is, My taser has the Av of 0 and the smartlink is 6 so i am ok, just do not get the milspec stuff.

Maybe I'm not understanding what is meant by "Restricted Gear is not allowed." Every firearm has an availability of #R or #F and a smartlink is rated 6R ("restricted").

he meant the quality not the gear, at least as far as i know.

Oh, what is "restricted" quality?

He means The Quality in the Runner's companion, which will definitely get you access to milspec equipment. most of the "milspec" weapons that runners have is either cheap knock-offs or so mass produced that companies "lose" several crates at a time without noticing. The Quality lets you buy gear with an Availability up to 20.

Thanks for helping me out. I cut my teeth on SR3 and am still getting used to the SR4 rules!

Yes, I did mean the Restricted Gear quality from Runner's Companion, a 5 BP quality which allows you to purchase a single item up to 20 availability at character generation, when you can usually take only up to 12. I can see how that wording would be confusing. You can have restricted and forbidden gear, but remember that you do not have access to any form of identification, so even items with a restricted availability can get you in hot water. Of course, you rarely see law enforcement in the Barrens outside of PR missions, so you probably won't have to worry about it. Probably...

Not to mention the occasional whackjob who decides to take the law into their own hands, and usually ends up hunted by the cops, the gangs and the families.

I'm almost finished with the point allocation. Here is the concept:

Jaeger is a high-speed, low-drag troll warrior adept who shuns firearms and relies instead on the venerable bow and blade. He’s an urban primitive living on Devil Rats cooked over a campfire, and can shoot a massive, meter-long arrow through your chest from over half a klick away. A versatile warrior, Jaeger's unusually long limbs allow him to rapidly close with and destroy the enemy in CQB.

I've updated my gunslinger character for this run so that is falls under the Kp Character cration

lvmises wrote:

lvmises wrote:

I'm almost finished with the point allocation. Here is the concept:

Jaeger is a high-speed, low-drag troll warrior adept who shuns firearms and relies instead on the venerable bow and blade. He’s an urban primitive living on Devil Rats cooked over a campfire, and can shoot a massive, meter-long arrow through your chest from over half a klick away. A versatile warrior, Jaeger's unusually long limbs allow him to rapidly close with and destroy the enemy in CQB.

My character for submission

Hi! We are using the German Errata, which means abilities=new rating * 5 Sorry, but you're around 480 kp in your attributes.

D'oh! Back to the drawing board!

Aalith wrote:

lvmises wrote:

lvmises wrote:

I'm almost finished with the point allocation. Here is the concept:

Jaeger is a high-speed, low-drag troll warrior adept who shuns firearms and relies instead on the venerable bow and blade. He’s an urban primitive living on Devil Rats cooked over a campfire, and can shoot a massive, meter-long arrow through your chest from over half a klick away. A versatile warrior, Jaeger's unusually long limbs allow him to rapidly close with and destroy the enemy in CQB.

My character for submission

Hi! We are using the German Errata, which means abilities=new rating * 5 Sorry, but you're around 480 kp in your attributes.

Ok, my less speedy, lucky, and smart character is complete.
Jaeger