The Sixth World, as it is called, can be both a wonderful and dangerous place if you are not careful. Magic has returned, and with it came Metahumanity, elves, dwarfs, orcs, trolls, and other supernatural races. Fantasy has became reality, but with all change, there is both good and bad. In this new world, mega corporations have risen in power to the point that they are on par with nations. Nations have collapsed and reformed into something new. New diseases such as the HMHVV or the Human-Metahuman Vampiric Virus that turns people into flesh eating monsters of legend.
A lot has happened since the beginning of the Sixth World, and there are many stories but our tale focuses on a group of shadowrunners(elite criminals) that have been approached by the head of a minor corporation for a task. For this person has recently discovered that his daughter, who died years ago, might somehow be alive. The task is simple, locate the daughter, and if it is her, then bring her home.
A task that, while it seems simple and maybe a bit hard. It will get more complicated than they think, and locating the daughter is just the beginning.
Rules: 1. Expected to follow standard site rules 2. No godmodding or powergaming or etc... 3. No OP characters 4. A max of two characters 5. Minimum of one paragraph 6. This is a cooperative roleplay, so no backstabbing and try not to kill each other
Overview
Hello and welcome to the rp. Set in early 2075, players will be playing as shadowrunners that have approached by the head of a minor corporation for a simple task. To find his daughter, who may be alive, and if it is her, then to bring her home. Unwilling, finding themselves in a more complicated situation than a simple, find the girl job.
So, in regards to archetypes and races. For this rp, I will be limiting the races to humans, elves, dwarfs, orcs and trolls. All of their variants are allowed. For archetypes, while I have listed what they are, you have free reign to mix them if you want. Just limit it to, say, a mix of two archetypes.
Also, I am looking for a co-gm, so if anyone is interested, then say something.
If anyone has any questions, then feel free to ask.
Deckers can slide like a whisper through the databases of giant corporations, spiriting away the only thing of real value—information.
Street samurai are enforcers for hire whose combat skills and reflexes make them the ultimate urban predators.
Riggers can manipulate vehicles and drones for a variety of purposes.
Mages, those rare folk who possess the gift of wielding and shaping the magical energies that now surround the Earth, are sought after to spy on the competition, heal and buff their allies, sling spells against an enemy, commit magical sabotage, and any other purpose that their employers can dream up.
Shamans are specialized mages whose attunement to the natural magical forces allows them to support themselves and fellow shadowrunners with a variety of defensive spells, as well as summon spirits in combat.
Physical adepts, who use the awakened magical energies to refine their bodies to the point of absolute perfection and become the ultimate fighting machines.
Technomancer metahumans who have expressed the ability to affect computers directly, without terminals or intermediate devices of their own, as an act of will
Name here
Street Name
street name here
Metatype
metatype here
Gender
gender here
Age
age here
Appearance
appearance here
Awakened
(Do you have magic?)yes or no here
Archetype
archetype here
Cybernetic or Bioware
cybernetics or bioware here(If any)
Personality
personality here
Equipment
equipment here
Background
background here
Useful Guide
Ares Macrotechnology - Owners of Apple, General Motors, and the Knights Errant, as well as hundreds of other subsidiaries and divisions, Ares Macrotechnology is the largest corporation in the United Canadian and American States and the leader in weapons manufacturing and defense contracting. The big, scary, patriotic corp that arms half the world, it is known for involving itself with clandestine operations quite frequently through the use of its private army, the corpsec poster children, the Knights Errant.
Aztechnology - Former cartel union turned corporate backers to the superpower that is Aztlan, Aztechnology dominate North America as the second largest megacorp in the world. Specializing in the magical industry and consumer goods, Aztech gear can be seen across the world, and their goods fill metahuman cupboards more than any other company. They are known in the shadows for their horrific, gruesome magical and genetics experiences, where many runners have disappeared to after crossing the megacorp.
Aztlan - Aztlan is a country covering all of Central America, between Rio Bravo and Nueces River and the Andes. The dominant power in North America, Aztlan is a corporate state like any other, ruled by Aztechnology through a puppet government. It frequently wars with the Native American Nations, which it was once a part of, the Confederate American States, and Amazonia.
Body shop - A body shop is an establishment offering cyberware (and bioware) implants. Legal body shops usually operate as part of hospitals. Illegal body shops, sometimes known as as "chop shops" for the low-quality establishments, or "black clinics" for the higher-end ones, often attached to similarly illegal street clinics, are operated by street docs.
Chummer - A word meaning friend in common runner lingo.
Corpsec - Corpsec, or corporate security, is a slang term for the various armed, militarized companies and private armies that exist to enforce the will of the megacorps. Ranging from the police contractors Lone Star, to the highly militarized Knights Errant, to the infamous and deadly Renraku Red Samurai, corpsec is the normal adversary to any experienced runner who has moved past fighting security guards and gangsters.
Evo Corporation - Largest Russian corporation and the leading figure in bio- and nanotechnology, Evo has transformed their home of Vladivostok into a technological Mecca.
Fixer - The intermediate between the shadows and other parts of the society. Fixers have numerous contacts, and some also have secondary specialties, such as smuggling, fencing, and so on. Fixers often know many powerful secrets, like the real identities of Mr. Johnsons, the runners, and such. Fixers, however, will not easily part with this information, as secrecy (plausible deniability) is part of the services they provide.
Hoi - A common greeting in the shadows, rooted in Dutch.
Horizon Group - Horizon is a media and public relations conglomerate based out of Los Angeles, in the Pueblo Corporate Council. Only a recent company that came to the surface after Crash 2.0, Horizon has fought its way to the limelight as a media giant, but hides a sinister streak just beneath the surface.
Matrix - The Matrix is the virtual reality wireless network that connects the Sixth World. Working with symbols and graphics, the wireless Matrix ensures that anyone with a comm or deck can connect through NeoNETs grid.
Mitsuhama Computer Technologies - Mitsuhama, or MCT, is primarily a computers and robotics developer, but also deals in magical goods and multimedia as part of their diverse holdings. Leading in the Simsense market and following S-K in industry and Aztechnology in magic, MCT is a giant in Asia, perhaps because of its close Yakuza connections.
Mr. Johnson - The anonymous corporate employers of Shadowrunners call themselves. It is a nickname like the names used by runners to conceal his true identity and the one of the corporation he works for.
Nuyen - Nuyen, often abbreviated as nu, is the official currency of the Imperial State of Japan, and the leading global currency in the Awakened world. Officially adopted and managed by the world's largest bank and taken on officially by several countries, including the Native American Nations that surround the UCAS, it has become the standard for international trade over the past half century, accepted anywhere with a Matrix link.
Omae - A common word meaning "best friend" among runners. Can often be used sarcastically to refer to someone you dislike.
Renraku Computer Systems - The fifth largest corporation in the world and among the largest in Japan, Renraku has weathered a thousand storms and retained its status as a leading megacorp in computer technologies. The home of the dangerous and fanatical Red Samurai, they are a force in the shadows, known to outsource their espionage efforts to runners for a decent wage. They have recently survived the Arcology Shutdown, in which their massive worker city was locked down by a rogue AI, torturing its residents for two years before being defeated.
Saeder-Krupp - Owner of BMW and largest corporation in the world, it functions as the personal hoard of the Great Dragon Lofwyr, who is the company's sole owner and CEO. With divisions responsible for everything from firearms to aerospace, S-K has their hands in everything, and through their wealth and power Lofwyr is able to play the strings of fate to his will.
Shiawase - A family owned business from Japan and eighth largest megacorp in the world, Shiawase has eked out a profitable existence by remaining under family control. It was only recently forced into internal conflict when the Empress married an Otaku member of the family and started off the Shadow Wars, with her allies and the directors board fought for control of the company.
Simsense - Entertainment media that allows the user to experience the senses and feelings of another person within a prerecorded setting. While used legitimately to showcase detailed shows or experiences that can be felt "first hand," an illegal market exists for so called Better Than Life or BTL, which lack the inhibitors placed on legal simsense. They can range from illegal porn to thrilling gunplay to gruesome murder.
SIN - A SIN, or System Identification Number, is the virtual footprint of an individual who is the citizen of a Global SIN Registrant country. Part birth cert, part passport, part social security number, SINs are how the government keeps a track of its population in the Awakened, wired world. Almost all legitimate citizens have them, and those that don't are usually operating under fakes.
SINless - Being "SINless" is the state of not having a SIN, either because you were not registered at birth, or your destroyed anything that might connect you to that old identity. Most SINless are the poor, immigrants, or otherwise outcasts from society who are prevented from participating in society by denying them a SIN. Others, namely runners, "burn" their SINs to prevent the government from tracking them or their crimes.
Street clinic - a street clinic is an illegal medical establishment, where SINless, criminals and shadowrunners can obtain medical services (often, through not always, emergency). The medical practitioners in those establishments are known as street docs.
Soy - Genetically engineered soy is used as a replacement product for many meats, as well as other products on the food market. Soybeef is now the main protein component in many establishments for use in items from burgers to burritos, while soykaf has dominated the beverage market for decades.
Wuxing, Inc - The largest Chinese corporation and based out of the corporate city state of Hong Kong, Wuxing is focused primarily on shipping and consumer goods, but since achieving worldwide AAA status, has expanded rapidly into other fields. It has a unique interest in spirits and their connection to magic, and is among the strongest new megacorps to take the field following Crash 2.0
I’ve been dabbling for like a decade or so, and been specifically faffing with 5e for a long time. I have a very broad and situationally deep knowledge of the setting and will gladly help anyone who needs info :)
I’ve been dabbling for like a decade or so, and been specifically faffing with 5e for a long time. I have a very broad and situationally deep knowledge of the setting and will gladly help anyone who needs info :)
I'm powering through the various 5E information (it was the easiest edition to find), but my concept so far is a "washed up corporate bodyguard, an elf cast out for failing to keep her charge alive, and now looking for any job to get back on her feet".
I sort of imagined some discreet cyberware/bioware (that makes sense for a bodyguard that needs to be unobtrusive, but still be able to tango when things go bad), probably a Corporate Born SIN (why they'd be trusted in the first place and be able to advance up the corporate ladder).
I’ve been dabbling for like a decade or so, and been specifically faffing with 5e for a long time. I have a very broad and situationally deep knowledge of the setting and will gladly help anyone who needs info :)
Honestly, because of how well you know the setting. I am tempted to ask you if you could be a co-gm or not. Not that you have to, and if not, then it is okay.
@Theyra I’m willing to if you need it, I was honestly working on building up the courage to do my own Shadowrun roleplay on the guild too.
@Abstract Proxy the only warning I have for you is that Shadowrunners and SINners are pretty much opposite sides of the magnet depending on the chosen climate of the roleplay; in oldschool, punk, neo-anarchist, or Hooder vibes it tends to be a ‘great, once a corp rat always a corp rat’ brand and a huge shadow of doubt put onto someone. This is NOT me telling you to NOT do this; exiled corpos are a great source of alternate perspective, and what you’ve described is perfectly valid as the origins of a Runner. It just means you’ve got an uphill reputation battle if anyone finds out about your SIN, and some people may basically treat you like a walking potential Great Betrayal waiting to go off.
That being said, a good modern representation of this is Takemura from Cyberpunk 2077; at the beginning of the game he gets burned in a similar method to what you describe, and his only choice is to work with the scum mercenaries he used to fight. It’s a GREAT trope and storyline and I support it, I just wanted you to have a bit of the shadowrun culture around the SIN without bogging you down with the other risks like ‘suddenly you have a potentially secondary corp looking into your actions’
On the topic of the discrete upgrades, synthetic and bio ‘wares are very ideal for the corporate suit high end security. Unobtrusive limbs that don’t look dangerous at first blush, organs souped up to the nines, and headware to make a decker blush, are all very corpo appropriate vibes for a ‘Samurai’ archetype.
Something important for everyone to keep in mind is Shadowrun hyper-emphasizes the loss of ‘Essence’, or soul/humanity, that cybernetics entails. People who mod a lot of chrome on eventually approach the ‘Uncanny Valley’, make people uncomfortable, lose social graces and emotional empathy, etc. Synthetic rather than hard chrome can supplement this somewhat, but heavy Bio is the ‘best’ way to represent someone with access to very high end resources. Obvious Chrome is for power, Synthetic is for trying to hide that power and sacrificing some potential power for that attempt to disguise it, bio is for subtlety and surprise but the benefits aren’t as extreme.
@Theyra I’m willing to if you need it, I was honestly working on building up the courage to do my own Shadowrun roleplay on the guild too.
@Abstract Proxy the only warning I have for you is that Shadowrunners and SINners are pretty much opposite sides of the magnet depending on the chosen climate of the roleplay; in oldschool, punk, neo-anarchist, or Hooder vibes it tends to be a ‘great, once a corp rat always a corp rat’ brand and a huge shadow of doubt put onto someone. This is NOT me telling you to NOT do this; exiled corpos are a great source of alternate perspective, and what you’ve described is perfectly valid as the origins of a Runner. It just means you’ve got an uphill reputation battle if anyone finds out about your SIN, and some people may basically treat you like a walking potential Great Betrayal waiting to go off.
That being said, a good modern representation of this is Takemura from Cyberpunk 2077; at the beginning of the game he gets burned in a similar method to what you describe, and his only choice is to work with the scum mercenaries he used to fight. It’s a GREAT trope and storyline and I support it, I just wanted you to have a bit of the shadowrun culture around the SIN without bogging you down with the other risks like ‘suddenly you have a potentially secondary corp looking into your actions’
On the topic of the discrete upgrades, synthetic and bio ‘wares are very ideal for the corporate suit high end security. Unobtrusive limbs that don’t look dangerous at first blush, organs souped up to the nines, and headware to make a decker blush, are all very corpo appropriate vibes for a ‘Samurai’ archetype.
Something important for everyone to keep in mind is Shadowrun hyper-emphasizes the loss of ‘Essence’, or soul/humanity, that cybernetics entails. People who mod a lot of chrome on eventually approach the ‘Uncanny Valley’, make people uncomfortable, lose social graces and emotional empathy, etc. Synthetic rather than hard chrome can supplement this somewhat, but heavy Bio is the ‘best’ way to represent someone with access to very high end resources. Obvious Chrome is for power, Synthetic is for trying to hide that power and sacrificing some potential power for that attempt to disguise it, bio is for subtlety and surprise but the benefits aren’t as extreme.
Thank you for that great reply!
I saw a bit about Corporate Born SINs being both a blessing (and a curse if the character starts running), but your elaboration was super helpful. I definitely like the RP potential it offers and the potential consequences. I think the character would be very "the feeling is mutual" in terms of any negative responses should her corpo background come up (or out).
Her original corporation starting to look into her runs and potentially getting involved would be amazing down the line.
I'm definitely getting a feeling that bioware/synthetics is what I'll lean into, just going through the lengthy list now of options. I really like the idea of some corporate VIPs insisting they have bodyguards that don't ruin the vibe at some social event by looking like walking murder.
I’m thinking of an Adept gunslinger. Who uses magic and guns.
I think that can work.
Also after talking with Fading Memory, the Technomancer archetype is allowed and on the list of archetypes. Plus there is now a link to the archetypes on the wiki. If you need more info about them and getting there easier.
Gunslinger Adept is a classic. Praise be the magical awakening of physical mastery of the firearm. Many of the ‘classic’ adept powers augment unarmed/physical combative abilities, but the sheer physical mastery an Adept can achieve makes them potentially just as terrifying as a full Chrome samurai when it comes to weapon mastery. They basically have mystical means of achieving most of the high end cybernetic athletic tools, and it’s spooky.
Edit: to make it publicly announced I would personally throw my hat into the ring as a support role, the Techno-Rigger. You muscleheads will need recon if you’re going to have any chance of getting yourselves in the right places :P
Also, if I make a char for this which I might since I like the char. It will be in a support role, as in a healing shaman. So you guys may not have to worry about there being a medic or not.
