[OOC] Shadowrun: Magic's Blight

[Ruby]

Welcome to Magic's Blight, a game set within the cyberpunk 'fantasyland' of the Shadowrun universe. It's been seven years since the Crash 2.0 crippled the safe bubble the meek, the mild, and the mundane have gotten quite accustomed to living their lives in. Luckily for them, and unluckily for anyone else, the great Corporate Court was able to lead a recovery far faster than many might have thought in the days directly after the Crash. They've even given us the wireless Matrix. All you need's the right little chip and you can do anything from turn on your coffee maker to do cyber battle between you and another decker--though the kids all call themselves "hackers" now.

Our game will be focusing on a small group of Shadowrunners. The player chaeracters should be about mid-range runners; most probably on the rise, maybe a steady old hand or two, etc, the options are pretty open. Veterans of corporate extractions and infilitration, people not shocked at the sight of corporate strike teams, but not anyone that's going to laugh in the face of one. Don't go overboard, but make it someone worth noticing if they were scouting for hidden/lesser known talents to include a dangerous job that can only be done by those that won't immediately set off flags if they're hired.

IC Details

• Year 2071, Seattle Metroplex.
• Seattle is slowly recovering from one of the worst crime waves in decades; a wave mostly fueled by the hyperaddictive drug Tempo.
• The last decade has seen a new surge in metahuman transformations, and the emergence of Technomancers: metahuman tensions are high.
• The Ancients are the dominate gang; the Cutters behind them, and the recovering Halloweeners behind them.
• Shadowland BBS has been replaced with the Peer 2 Peer Fastjack network.
• "Something" has been disturbing magical forces across the entire west coast of North America for weeks now.
  
  • Most magic users would see their magic turn erratic, and weakened. Others still might be disconnected entirely, or talents reduced to parlor tricks.
  • The media talks of magical "overuse", others still that the Earth is taking back what it gave again: but the most connected hear rumors of a super FAB.

OOC Details

• Currently I'm the only GM for the game.
• I won't, myself, be writing a PC. Plans could change, but that's the plan for now.
• This isn't a first come, first served approach to character approval.
• Thinking four to five players right now. Even after we hit capacity, feel free to put in a CS for "reserve."
• Advanced standards; common sense approach.
• Character Sheets will be posted on the OOC for approval/disapproval. Not all decisions will be made public.

The plot itself will focus on the group being assembled, and going on the job, although there will likely be "set up" tasks before the main push. The story has been put in place, but I'm leaving the plot a little open ended to give you players a chance to have some control on how it all plays out. The job in question is a corporate acquisition job, though obviously the details will be left for the IC. Oh, and it might be more than it appears on the surface. Go figure, right? Hopefully the team does a little research.

@HeySeuss will be playing the lead Shadowrunner for our little band of misfits, so it might be wise to consider how your character might have some connection to his. Though this isn't a requirement. Likewise, the Mr. Johnson will provide a "start up" fund for weapon/vehicle procurement, so avoid listing anything larger than a pistol for weapons in Character Sheet.

Character Sheet

Name:
Metatype:
Ethnicity:
Age:
Class:
Appearance: (If description)
Cyberware:
Magical/Physad abilities:
Equipment: (No weapons larger than a pistol)
Biography:
Misc Notes: (If any)

[Vigfast]

Woot, I'm down.

CS inb, soonish.

[HeySeuss]

Character up.

[The Survivor]

Character incoming.

[The Survivor]

CS is a go.

[Ruby]

CS is a go.

@The Survivor

Post it in the OOC first?

HeySeuss was pre-approved.

[HeySeuss]

One of the big starting plots here will be that this is a team of runners being assembled to start running in Seattle. So this will be a bit of a 'getting to know' each other plot in a way too. We'll be doing some runs just to acquire the equipment to get set up doing extractions and courier runs and other things, like potential paydata grabs.

[The Survivor]

Name: Marcus 'Chief' White-Feather
Metatype: Elf
Ethnicity: Native American
Age: 52
Class: Street Samurai
Appearance: Crow black hair tied in a small braid, 5'O clock shadow, brown eyes, pointed ears, looks like he's in his early 20s. Slim build, but obviously in shape. Wears a black coat with plenty of pouches and cargo trousers with black combat boots. Has a right cyberware arm.
Cyberware: Right arm, has adrenaline auto injectors to increase his speed. However the canisters are incredibly small and expensive.
Magical/Physad abilities: Surprisingly little magical ability.
Equipment: A small medical kit, an Uzi III, and a sharpened shuriken. Plus an eagle necklace carved from a pine tree.

Biography:

Marcus White-Feather was born July 12th, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. His father owned a music shop and his mother worked as a teacher at then local elementary school, neither of them were elves. Growing up, Marcus was bullied lot for his pointed ears and tiny frame and it wasn't until the 5th grade talent show that the harassment stopped. Marcus had a talent, a talent for singing. And his parents encouraged him to enter the talent show to show all the other kids how good he was at singing. While shy and nervous at first, he eventually signed up and turns out, he blew everyone away. This jump started his temporary career as a singing sensation in the NAN and indeed the UCAS. He was discovered by a music producer who was watching his niece at the talent show. He immediately offered a 5 year contract to Marcus' parents who of course accepted.

Marcus's brief stint as a superstar was...tiring, to say in the least. Constantly performing at concerts, recording songs, interviews and whatnot. It was probably the most hectic 5 years of his life. He recorded 5 albums, an album per year, and performing hundreds of concerts. But, the contract ended, life returned to normal...over the course of 3 or 4 years; and he faded into history. His career as a shadowrunner started in a very abrupt in tragic way. A new gang had rolled into Marcus's neighborhood and they thrived on extortion and repression of markets. Marcus was 19, still living with his parents while he decided what to do with his life. For the past few years he had been working at his Dad's shop and now that he was an adult he worked full time there. A note about Marcus' father: he was as stubborn as they come. And when that gang rolled into his shop, he only had one sentence for them- "The safety is off." Now, they didn't like that one bit, but they couldn't make an example of him yet, not in broad daylight, they didn't have enough influence yet. So they left and came back in the middle of the night and nearly beat his father to death. Now, Marcus didn't like THAT one bit, either. His father was on death's doorstep in the hospital and Marcus didn't know what to do, his mother was a wreck and he had never been this angry before in his life.

Marcus' father kept a revolver under the counter in case there was trouble and in his absence, Marcus had decided to take over the store. So when those gangsters came walking in again, Marcus helped them to a face full of lead. Probably not the smartest move, considering his father died that night of "Multiple organ failure". The quickness of all these events was too much for Marcus' mother, who fell ill. Marcus immediately had her moved to a hospital across town. His mother falling ill was the last straw. He locked up the shop that night and took his father's revolver and a shotgun to set things right. It was a bloody night to say in the least. After his rampage, Marcus told his mother that he would be leaving Denver after his father's funeral. To find himself. She understood.

He's been running in the shadows ever since.

Misc Notes: N/A

[Vigfast]

One of the big starting plots here will be that this is a team of runners being assembled to start running in Seattle. So this will be a bit of a 'getting to know' each other plot in a way too. We'll be doing some runs just to acquire the equipment to get set up doing extractions and courier runs and other things, like potential paydata grabs.

@HeySeuss

"They met on a warm October evening in a Stuffer Shack and though none of them knew it at the time, it was the start of great things."

--------------------------------------------

I'm working on an ex-military or formerly gang affiliated/criminal Rigger, with some practical elements from a standard Street Samurai.

[DJAtomika]

Dibs on the Decker. Gonna make a big tough gal.

[HeySeuss]

Looking forward to updates. We should really get this moving if we're going to get moving, guys. Just my personal observation that when there is momentum, we need to use it. ;)

[Vigfast]

Verily, I'm trying to get a ping on what sort of chap to write which is the most annoying part/time consuming part for me (apart from naming, which is terrible).

[HeySeuss]

Verily, I'm trying to get a ping on what sort of chap to write which is the most annoying part/time consuming part for me (apart from naming, which is terrible).

@Vigfast

Well, no one's got an ork, troll or dwarf yet. We lack deckers, mages and riggers so far. No shaman types either.

That's not to say anything is a dibs, I think it's fine if we have an extra Samurai or something. Or physad, or whatever. They come in all different flavors, after all.

[Bladewolf]

I'm not intimately knowledgeable about the Shadowrun verse. To join, how much knowledge one would require? I'm not averse to a bit of study to join if any helpful links would be offered. Depending on how much is required to know in order to join I can attempt if it's alright.

[Ruby]

Marcus is approved.

[Ruby]

I'm not intimately knowledgeable about the Shadowrun verse. To join, how much knowledge one would require? I'm not averse to a bit of study to join if any helpful links would be offered. Depending on how much is required to know in order to join I can attempt if it's alright.

@Bladewolf

Google search for "Shadowrun 20th Anniversary core PDF" and it shouldn't take you long to find the entire core book online, for free. I'd say read through the intro section there.

[DJAtomika]

Name: Abigail "Gale" Sykes
Metatype: Orc
Ethnicity: African-American
Age: 33
Class: Decker
Appearance: Standing six feet five inches tall and weighing a hefty two hundred and sixty pounds, Gail is a very, very big gal that you wouldn't expect to be a decent decker. Her shoulders are broad, and small, twin tusks jut out from her mouth; not prominent enough to make goring people to death a thing, but enough to let you know that yes she's definitely an orc. Along with the tusks, her ears are also pointed, slightly longer than normal, and are pierced; her left ear has two plain silver rings, and her right has a single stud. Her hair is shoulder length, curly and poofy, enough to also hide her datajack that's underneath her right ear. Her usual garb is a gunmetal grey turtleneck jacket over a plain white t-shirt emblazoned with the word "Caution" in bright yellow letters, slightly shredded slim cut jeans and black sneakers. She always carries around a slim black messenger bag and prefers wearing a flat cap. She has a few string bracelets on her right wrist of differing colours and designs and often wears full fingered black gloves on her hands.
Cyberware: Datajack; just beneath her right ear.
Magical/Physad abilities: -
Equipment:

• Ceska Black Scorpion pistol
• Comlink
• Sim-module
• Brass knuckles
• Messenger bag; contains casette player, earphones, a pen, a notepad and some packets of tissue paper.

Biography:

Growing up in the Barrens was a tough life; you either joined a gang, stayed out of everyone's way, or died. The only miracles that occured were true miracles, when someone was clean enough to pass through customs dividing the Barrens from the outside world. Abigail had heard of such stories, growing up in a dumpy neighbourhood on the outskirts of that godforsaken place, but most of her life she'd grown up with and lived around the massive wall that divided her and her family from an outside world that she'd only heard stories of.

Her family were mixed with bad people, obviously. Her father, though trying to life clean to raise his kids, had once run with the Kings Gate Boys, and his three sons had followed in his footsteps, much to his disdain. She was the only one not affected as much by the gang warfare and strife that affected her neighbourhood, and instead maintained a healthy curiosity and interest in learning that her parents praised her for. Over time, as she grew up, schooled, became an adult and found a job teaching in her former school, her life began to slowly turn better, though her family was not as lucky. Within the first five years of her three elder brothers joining the Kings Gate Boys, one of them was missing, one in a coma, and one dead from the spats of gang violence that erupted outside their neighbourhood. Abigail's mother didn't take it too well, and soon she began seeking a way out for the family she had left while Abigail herself continued with her job, teaching kids and taking care of them.

Then, one day, her mother approached her with an out: with money she'd saved painstakingly over the years, she had given Abigail a chance to exit the Barrens and leave her horribile life behind. The money she'd saved provided her daughter with safe passage out of the Barrens and towards Seattle, where a family friend took her in. It was then that Abigail took up the finer technological things in life, and immediately got acquainted with the wonder that was the Matrix.

However, through her time spent in the Matrix, she slowly began to fall for the same vices that had once gripped her father and brothers. Given an opportunity to secure some private and confidential data for a Mr. Johnson, she took to it with gusto, and soon she built a reputation for herself as an amateur decker that knew what to do and what not do. The shadows embraced her right after, and she has never left since.

Misc Notes: Gale loves her old music, and will go out of her way to obtain copies of old music (mostly old timey jazz and swing music) if she can.

[Ruby]

Name: Abigail "Gale" Sykes
Metatype: Orc
Ethnicity: African-American
Age: 33
Class: Decker
Appearance: Standing six feet five inches tall and weighing a hefty two hundred and sixty pounds, Gail is a very, very big gal that you wouldn't expect to be a decent decker. Her shoulders are broad, and small, twin tusks jut out from her mouth; not prominent enough to make goring people to death a thing, but enough to let you know that yes she's definitely an orc. Along with the tusks, her ears are also pointed, slightly longer than normal, and are pierced; her left ear has two plain silver rings, and her right has a single stud. Her hair is shoulder length, curly and poofy, enough to also hide her datajack that's underneath her right ear. Her usual garb is a gunmetal grey turtleneck jacket over a plain white t-shirt emblazoned with the word "Caution" in bright yellow letters, slightly shredded slim cut jeans and black sneakers. She always carries around a slim black messenger bag and prefers wearing a flat cap. She has a few string bracelets on her right wrist of differing colours and designs and often wears full fingered black gloves on her hands.
Cyberware: Datajack; just beneath her right ear.
Magical/Physad abilities: -
Equipment:

• Ceska Black Scorpion pistol
• Comlink
• Sim-module
• Brass knuckles
• Messenger bag; contains casette player, earphones, a pen, a notepad and some packets of tissue paper.

Biography:

Growing up in the Barrens was a tough life; you either joined a gang, stayed out of everyone's way, or died. The only miracles that occured were true miracles, when someone was clean enough to pass through customs dividing the Barrens from the outside world. Abigail had heard of such stories, growing up in a dumpy neighbourhood on the outskirts of that godforsaken place, but most of her life she'd grown up with and lived around the massive wall that divided her and her family from an outside world that she'd only heard stories of.

Her family were mixed with bad people, obviously. Her father, though trying to life clean to raise his kids, had once run with the Kings Gate Boys, and his three sons had followed in his footsteps, much to his disdain. She was the only one not affected as much by the gang warfare and strife that affected her neighbourhood, and instead maintained a healthy curiosity and interest in learning that her parents praised her for. Over time, as she grew up, schooled, became an adult and found a job teaching in her former school, her life began to slowly turn better, though her family was not as lucky. Within the first five years of her three elder brothers joining the Kings Gate Boys, one of them was missing, one in a coma, and one dead from the spats of gang violence that erupted outside their neighbourhood. Abigail's mother didn't take it too well, and soon she began seeking a way out for the family she had left while Abigail herself continued with her job, teaching kids and taking care of them.

Then, one day, her mother approached her with an out: with money she'd saved painstakingly over the years, she had given Abigail a chance to exit the Barrens and leave her horribile life behind. The money she'd saved provided her daughter with safe passage out of the Barrens and towards Seattle, where a family friend took her in. It was then that Abigail took up the finer technological things in life, and immediately got acquainted with the wonder that was the Matrix.

However, through her time spent in the Matrix, she slowly began to fall for the same vices that had once gripped her father and brothers. Given an opportunity to secure some private and confidential data for a Mr. Johnson, she took to it with gusto, and soon she built a reputation for herself as an amateur decker that knew what to do and what not do. The shadows embraced her right after, and she has never left since.

Misc Notes: Gale loves her old music, and will go out of her way to obtain copies of old music (mostly old timey jazz and swing music) if she can.

@DJAtomika

Approved. Very nice!

[HeySeuss]

I expanded Good-Crow's bio a bit to weave in the fall of the California Protectorate and his involvement in that doing smuggling runs.

[The Survivor]

Marcus is approved.

@Ruby

Thanks Boss.