[Tecumseh]

At the end of Page 1, Jack said “Karma and money flow at 2000 Nuyen and 1 Karma per post.”

At the beginning of Page 2, Aria said, “Karma rewards are 1 per 2 IC posts, plus some additional for writing up NPCs / background etc on our Obsidian Portal page.”

Which rate is correct? Is it both karma and nuyen, or one or the other? Are we responsible for tracking our own or does the GM handle that? Is it awarded continuously or only after specific intervals? Similarly, is progression (i.e spending karma) instantaneous or are there IC components as well, like requiring the appropriate amount of time to pass?

Apologies for the flurry of rookie questions that everyone else likely knows the answers to.

[Tecumseh]

Before she steps inside, Ichante decides to take the precaution of summoning a spirit to watch over her. She lifts her eyes to the sky, studying the patterns in the clouds for clues about the Earth’s magic.

Wakan Tanka, if it suits you, send me an ally, she asks. One faster than thunder, and steadier than the ocean wind. One strong as the rain that erodes the mountain, and clever as the raven in flight. And not too ugly, please.

The pattern of the clouds above her begins to sway and shift, although Ichante is never sure if others can see the changes that she causes or if those effects are just for her. A figure begins to form in front of her, as if an invisible person were stepping through a heavy mist. The air ripples and curls around the figure until it emerges as a bare-chested Native male with lightning in his eyes, pecs like slabs of granite, and lats like wings. Ichante claps with delight.

Her mood lifted, Ichante decides to doll herself up with a spell to improve her charm and personality. The spell works, but the effort leaves her coughing, as if the wind had been knocked out of her. She rights herself after a moment, annoyed to be tripped up by so simple of a spell, then heads inside with her spirit in tow on the astral.

Inside, there’s a poker game in progress. There’s a supermodel sitting at the bar, which seems notable. A supermodel in combat boots, no less. Ichante is impressed that the bartender can keep his wits about him in the face of such beauty. Or maybe he’s gay, which would make it considerably easier. Ichante isn’t gay, but the lady at the bar might make you consider switching teams.

Ichante switches to the astral for a moment to survey the scene. The poker game is tense, but that’s to be expected of any contest involving money. She keeps her distance from the table and is hardly surprised when the chummer with hands of shovels gets up, his fury boiling over as he draws a knife. Ichante edges toward the wall in response, not intending to get involved. She’s quite pathetic in a bar fight, but if need be she can call her spirit from the astral to throw some fists on her behalf.

[Tecumseh]

@Aria
I found the Contacts section of the wiki. Looks like you already added Longshadow, so thanks for that. I’ll make sure to add Contacts as I write them up.

@Jack_Spade
First draft of the 20 Questions is done on my character sheet.
https://stormy-waters-2075.obsidianportal.com/characters/ichante
At one point I added a “Player Secret” to outline some of the character development I see happening, and tried to make that visible to you, but now I don’t even see it myself.

Also, the map link in the first OOC post doesn’t work well for me. (The map is greyed out.) Here’s a map of North America that’s built on top of Google Maps that does a dynamite job of showing national borders. I thought that might be useful for our purposes:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1TNCj4CZg5SgOowBYfYgeyrmLuI3a_COO&usp=sharing

[Tecumseh]

@Aria
Thanks, but I’m still not seeing it. I can get to two different pages where I might expect to see it, but I don’t. Can you give me the URL that you’re using?

https://wordpress-644450-2100352.cloudwaysapps.com/account/
If I click the picture (or the “View Profile” link) on this page, it takes me to…

https://wordpress-644450-2100352.cloudwaysapps.com/user/tecumseh/
If I click the picture on this page, it just reloads the page.

[Tecumseh]

First IC post is up.

I usually write in the present tense but this one bounces back and forth between the past and the present to describe how she finds herself in Texas. Long story short, she went to Denver on a shopping trip and found out about the job there.

I made an NPC page for one of her contacts: https://stormy-waters-2075.obsidianportal.com/characters/npc-longshadow

Ichante summons an F7 guardian spirit before going inside: Magic 7 + Summoning 6 + Spec 2 + Power Focus 2: 17d6t5 9 hits, good start, but capped at 7 hits by Force.

Spirit resist summoning: Force 7: 7d6t5 1 hit Ooo, a nice subservient one! 6 services total.

Soaking 2 drain: Willpower 6 + Intuition 6: 12d6t5 6 hits, no drain

Optional powers are Concealment and Elemental Attack (Lightning), although she’s tempted to ask for Animal Control because Arms’ probably has rats.

For good measure she’ll also spin up an Increase Charisma spell at F4: Magic 7 + Spellcasting 6 + Power Focus 2: 15d6t5 3 hits, Charisma is now 3 (6), sustained via Heightened Concentration

Soaking 2S drain: Willpower 6 + Intuition 6: 12d6t5 1 hit, ahh, luck finally gave out. She takes 1 box of Stun.

Because she wasn’t expecting to work, Ichante doesn’t have a lot of her gear available. Here’s what she has at the meet:

== Armor ==
Ares Victory: Wild Hunt 12 + Gear Access + Liner – Fire Resistance (6) + Holster

== Weapons ==
Cavalier Evanator + Electronic Firing + Folding Stock + Laser Sight
Ammo: Flechette Rounds (Submachine Guns) ×20
Ammo: Regular Ammo (Submachine Guns) ×20
Ammo: Stick-n-Shock (Submachine Guns) ×20

== Commlink ==
Fairlight Caliban R7 + Trodes + Subvocal Mic

== Gear ==
Contacts Rating 3 + Image Link + Flare Compensation + Polychromic Lens
Earbuds Rating 3 + Sound Link + Audio Enhancement R2
Glasses Rating 4 + Vision Enhancement Rating 3 + Vision Magnification
Micro-Transceiver
Power Focus (Sioux) Rating 2
Psyche ×10
Qi Focus R1 (UNBONDED, Linguistics)
Reagents, per dram (Sioux) ×40
Slap Patch, Trauma Patch
Fake SIN (National PCC) R5 + Fake License (Mage License) R5 + Fake License (Firearms License) R5

[Tecumseh]

Ichante stares distastefully at Arms’ Saloon, wondering if she made the right decision to come. The nature of the establishment called into question the “extraordinary large sum of Nuyen” that had been promised. Plus, what was up with that apostrophe in the saloon’s name? Was “Arms” now a proper name, some chummer’s name now in the possessive? Did the locals really call it “Arms-s Saloon”?

Under normal circumstances, Ichante would never consider venturing into the CAS for a job. She made an exception this time because she was literally halfway here already when she heard about it. She had made a trip from her home in Seattle to Denver to pick up her brand new foci from her talismonger in the Sioux sector. The talismonger in question, Longshadow, is a Shark shaman and a real piece of work who can smell metaphorical blood in the water. Ichante, having just dropped almost ¥40,000 on a power focus and a qi focus, was obviously in need of gainful employment, so Longshadow pointed her toward an associate in the CAS sector of Denver, who in turn pointed her here.

Unfortunately, Ichante had not come to Denver expecting to work. She thought she was going for a shopping trip, to drop a ton of money that she had spent years saving, not get her hands dirty. In addition to the new foci, she was picking up a fancy new SIN from her ID manufacturer in the PCC sector. She could already hear her financial adviser back in Seattle sobbing to himself. He begged and pleaded with her for just ¥500k or ¥600k and he would do the rest; she’d never have to work again if she didn’t want to. She believed him, but money just slipped through her fingers like water. She knew it, which is why she got into shadowrunning in the first place.

So, Ichante was in Denver wearing a Synergist Business suit with Second Skin underneath (because, damn, Denver in February is cold), which probably wasn’t going to work well in San Angelo-whatsit. She used the occasion to go buy a new gun, figuring that Texas was the type of place where you were more likely to get shot if you didn’t have a gun than if you did. A moment of “when in Rome” inspiration led her to the Cavalier Evanator, knowing that the CAS locals would look more favorably on a local weapon then something foreign like a Steyr. She then bought a new Wild Hunt jacket, hoping that would blend in wherever she was going. If it didn’t, she would magically alter it until it did.

That’s how Ichante finds herself staring at a cheap saloon that’s so far beneath her standards that she has to hold her breath. She didn’t know what the local biases might be around nationality so she set her skin tone to something ambiguous, somewhere between Latina and tanned Anglo. She mentally commanded her hair to get puffy and big, as Texan women didn’t seem content unless their wingspan of their hair stretched for 50cm or more. The effect is comical on Ichante’s dwarven frame, but at least she can change it when it’s time to move on and be forgotten.

For now, she’s on the lookout for a man in black with a guitar case. She hopes that there’s an actual guitar in it, and not – say – an assload of guns and explosives. Fine for a coworker, but undesirable for a Johnson. Unless, of course, he’s one of those tall, strapping mariachis full of music and muscles. In that case he could play her strings and she’d sing for him all he wanted…

She breaks her momentary reverie to summon a guardian spirit to watch over her before she steps inside. She kicks herself for not learning the spell which sterilizes everything, and resolves to pick it up on the way back to Seattle. She’s not particularly worried about bullets, but the local botulism might be the end of her, dwarven constitution be damned.

[Tecumseh]

@Beta
Can you send me the code you used for the tables on your Obsidian Portal sheet? I’m not seeing an obvious way to format those, and I’m hoping to avoid cycling through all the different formatting code I know.

@All
Can anyone tell me how to change my profile picture on RPG Playroom? The process is eluding me.

[Tecumseh]

Character sheet is up:

https://stormy-waters-2075.obsidianportal.com/characters/ichante

I have a lot of formatting to do – as soon as I figure out Obsidian Portal – as well as adding background and contact descriptions. A lot of it is in my head; I just need to type it out.

I’ve been making tweaks just about every day this week. I think at this point I just need to slap things down and commit.

== Priorities ==
Metatype: B,3
Attributes: B,3
Special: A,4
Skills: A,4
Resources: E,0

== Chargen Karma ==
+35 Prime Runner
+35 Negative Qualities
-35 Adept Power Points
-18 Positive Qualities
-12 Power Focus R2
-5 Spell

Happy to go over the sheet with anyone who asks. I prefer transparency.

Starting Nuyen: 4d6*100 ¥1,200

[Tecumseh]

Character sheet:

https://stormy-waters-2075.obsidianportal.com/characters/ichante

[Tecumseh]

@Jack_Spade
Do Adept Ways double in price after chargen? My memory says “no” but Street Grimoire doesn’t explicitly say so. I have a Reddit thread which says that the writer commented in another thread (which I haven’t found) that the prices should not double, but that the correction hadn’t made its way into the errata. This might be what my brain is remembering.

I am considering pursuing the Spiritual Way as a good character arc.

Also, do you play that contacts and/or glasses interfere with spellcasting?

[Tecumseh]

Cool, thanks for the answers.

I went down an interesting rabbit hole last night and explored the possibility of a mystic adept with a cyberarm. An interesting build, very versatile, and one I might want to play in the future, but I think for now I’ll stick with my original concept.

I’m making good progress, making tweaks to skills, spells, adept powers, and gear. I think the last major item on the To Do list is to choose Contacts.

[Tecumseh]

After sleeping on it, I’m currently moving forward with the mysad build.

Rules Clarification for Creature of Comfort: I took the Creature of Comfort quality because I imagine the character gets pouty while roughing it. I wanted to get a GM call on the interpretation. Here’s the relevant passage:

“For every day that the character must spend “slumming” it in a lower Lifestyle category, the irritable character suffers a –1 penalty to all Social and Healing tests per Lifestyle category below his chosen level.”

Does the “for every day” mean that this is cumulative with multiple days, or just that the check happens every day? I take the latter reading because the former one seems overly harsh, as it means that anyone down on their luck would soon find their Social pools reduced to zero.

Separately, is there any guidance for what’s expected around fake licenses? Specifically in terms of level of granularity. I know each table handles things differently and I didn’t want to waste 4k on unnecessary licenses.

For background, I see that Al has 8,000 words (wtf adamu), Becky has an origin story, and Preston has some bullet points. Is there a preference for format or things that should be addressed?

[Tecumseh]

@Aria
I created an Obsidian Portal link under this same user name. Please invite me to the Stormy Waters campaign when you have a chance.

@All
Here’s my current draft. The biggest decision right now is whether to go Mystic Adept or Magician. Mystic Adept creates some interesting possibilities that I haven’t explored before, like Enthralling Performance, while Magician offers more spells and probably requires outsourcing more of combat to spirits. The skills, qualities, and spells change slightly based on which approach I take. Here’s the “core” of the character, which doesn’t include some of the elements still in flux.

== Priorities ==
Metatype: B,3 (Dwarf)
Attributes: B,3
Special: A,4
Skills: A,4
Resources: E,0

== Attributes ==
BOD: 4
AGI: 5
REA: 4
STR: 3
CHA: 3
INT: 6
LOG: 2
WIL: 6
EDG: 4
MAG: 7 (via Exceptional Attribute)

== Skill Groups ==
Stealth 6
Influence 3
Athletics 1

== Individual Skills ==
Arcana 4
Artisan (Fashion) 6 (+2)
Assensing (Aura Reading) 6 (+2)
Automatics (Submachine Guns) 3 (+2)
Counterspelling 6 (+2)
Perception (Visual) 6 (+2)
Spellcasting (Combat) 6 (+2)
Summoning (Guardian Spirit) 6 (+2)

== Positive Qualities ==
Exceptional Attribute (MAG)
Mentor Spirit (Fire-Bringer)

== Negative Qualities ==
Addiction (Mild) (Psyche)
Creature of Comfort (Middle)
Phobia (Uncommon, Mild) (Large bodies of water)
Records on File (Shiawase)
SINner (National) (Sioux Nation)
Social Appearance Anxiety
Spirit Bane (Water)

== Tradition ==
Sioux, Resist Drain with: 12

== Spells ==
Fashion
Heal
Ice Storm
Levitate
Lightning Bolt
Opium Den
Petrify
Physical Mask
Stunbolt
Trid Phantasm

[Tecumseh]

Much to the detriment of my work, I’ve been penciling out ideas out all day. The Sioux mystic adept is currently in the lead. The elf shaman just had too much overlap with Becky in terms of skills and competencies.

You’ll all be excited to hear that my highest dice pool is Artisan.

Similar to adamu’s questions, is the expectation that we’re just visiting San Angelo? Should my gear and/or lifestyle reflect a different environment? Is there a home base of sorts as far as where the team usually operates? Is the idea that I meet up with the team there or have I accompanied them from a different location?

[Tecumseh]

I have two primary concepts that I’ve been tinkering with. Both are mystic adepts but that’s not a final decision.

The first is an elf shaman who is an old 4E character that I never got to play. He has a strong social component but I know Becky has that role covered so I’m thinking about ways to diversify him. He’s probably the more complete character in my head.

The second is an dwarf Sioux magician, if Jack won’t disown me for picking a tradition that doesn’t have Spirits of Man. I took her out for a one-shot mission two years ago and found that she needed a power inject, which Sum-to-14 would certainly provide. I swear I did the 20 Questions for her, and I have forum posts strongly suggesting that I did, but I can’t find them.

Strangely, I hardly ever play elves. I can only think of one that I’ve ever played.

[Tecumseh]

My questions were trying to tease out some of the culture of the game around optimization and tone. These responses are helping.

I looked over the sheets and I agree that Al is not optimized.

Judging by the sheets I’ve sen, Spellcasting and Summoning appear to be the two primary missing skill sets. I spent the evening going through various possibilities in my head, debating whether to dust off some old concepts or to try something new given the generous nature of chargen and progression rules.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve been playing and GMing for 25 years since 2nd Edition. I know that makes me a hopeless rookie in the eyes of many 1st Edition players, but I’m strong on the setting and the progression of rules through the editions. I’ve been aware of Aria’s games for, oh, the last 7 years or so, but never threw my hat in the ring mostly because I was GMing myself. I still am GMing, but one of the games I was playing in just folded last week and another is on pause so Jack’s invitation was well-timed.

[Tecumseh]

Hi all.

Jack invited me to check out the thread and I’m tentatively interested. I once ran 4-year PbP campaign in a rural setting (Cascade mountains of Salish-Shidhe) so I love getting out of the city.

Are there character sheets available anywhere? It sounds like everyone is getting a major upgrade but I’m curious what the core competencies are beyond the one-word descriptions in Aria’s post.

From Aria’s post it sounds like magic is a gap on the team – especially if Aria goes technorigger – and magic is a strength of mine. The only roadblock might be that I have much more experience with low-powered campaigns than with high-powered games, and my mind is kind of reeling at the prospect of Sum-to-14. I need to wrap my brain around some of the possibilities; hopefully I don’t have a crisis of imagination.

Are there other house rules to review, or matters of etiquette that might not be obvious to an outsider?