/srg/ - Shadowrun General

My games are boom-and-bust cycles of runs, but with a through narrative.

I picked the habit up from running Barbarians of Lemuria, which is Conan with the serial number filed off. The basic assumption is that you go on fantastic adventures to kill priest-kings and recover mountains of treasure, then sit around feasting, whoring, and lounging on your throne until you're broke and need to adventure again.

The runners get a big paycheck which they reinvest in downtime, getting their stuff repaired and new toys ordered and installed. We go through briefly how they spent their money and their time, and come back in when their pocketbooks are thin and they need to throw themselves into the teeth of a megacorp to make scratch. So we start the story of the decker with him making the money to send his daughters to college, peek in over the next couple months to see how he adapts to the empty nest, and now the next downtime phase is going to be looking at how his relationship with his wife is going, considering he's focused more and more on his secret life and SINless friends than he is on keeping the marriage humming along..

Why buy light security armor when you can buy full body armor?

Is it possible for vampires to feed off donated blood?

You mean like a bloodbag? No. They need to drain Essence from someone while they feed, the blood is just a conduit.

To blend in with on-site security.

You're right, but for the wrong reason. A vampire needs both - blood for mundane dietary nutrition, but also essence for magical sustenance. A vampire could feed their biological needs with donated blood, but sooner or later they'd need some Essence too or they'd die.

Technically, the Essence is drained through moments of extreme emotion, not necessarily blood loss. A vampire could put a gun to your head and pull the trigger on an empty cylinder to get their Essence drain going - it's just that biting a fool and sucking down his blood tends to kill both birds with one meal.

Yeah, but mechanically it doesn't make sense

The mechanical bonus is the bonus your GM will give to disguise/impersonation. You don't buy it for purely combat reasons.

So with the right connections it's possible to play a vamp who does neither leave a trail of dry sucked corpses or a wave of infected in his wake?

So, /srg/, I have a character question for all of you.

How would you go about building a character as a member of the old, landed, English nobility, like >picrelated? I understand that you'd want money as an A priority, but how exactly would you go about doing it?

As context, my GM is setting up a side game for us to do when we're missing a player or two. The gist of it is that we're busting down corrupt figures in the British government, with the runs financed by some member of the House of Lords. However, the dude has to come along with them to get them in to certain places, which is why I need to create a character for him.

There was a high class big game hunter character posted a couple of threads ago. Go with that as a basis.

Is it just me? I enabled all the books but I don't see the banshee option in the drop-down list it used to be in—

Nevermind I'm retarded, it's a quality now.

Kinda. You still have to leave a trail of Essence-damaged traumatized fools in your wake.

In a nutshell?

Give him some decent skill with a shotgun, lots of social skills and plenty of knowledge skills too. He'd have a shit ton of money to start with and plenty of contacts too.

There's a Trust Fund Quality which gives you a monthly stipend and a free Lifestyle as long a you remain a SINner in good social standing.

Take that.

You don't even need Resources A - that's just if you have a lot of really expensive equipment. You could easily be a low-Resources mage with a Trust Fund whose family wealth is more represented by the fact that he has a free High lifestyle and a monthly allowance in the thousands of nuyen, where he simply doesn't start the game with expensive runner gear outside of his selected lifestyle.

There's a Quality which gives you a fuckton of extremely high-tier Contacts. Pick that up, and have them be extremely well-connected and eccentric, useful nobles you know and could exchange favors with. You know, back-room high-society types with land holdings and a wealth of experiences and connections in Africa as a result of various adventures in the Congo. That kind of thing.

Make sure that they're a diverse lot that you can call on for a wide range of extremely different shit, rather than all being in the same approximate circles.

I think I fucked up
I put a security spider in the building my group was supposed to blow up, and they stole his deck after they killed him.
His deck(Sony CIY-720) is better/more expensive than the decker's old one(Renraku Tsurugi) by a decent margin, and she has enough money to repair the minimal damage it took and
What do

Have them deal with the own,ership resetting and let them keep it.

Let that be a lesson to you that spiders shouldn't be physically accessible or even present.

I don't see the problem. Decks are so expensive that there's literally no other way to get yourself an upgrade in play.

The pay for the run overall was significantly less than the difference between the decks' prices.

And this was only like, the fourth or fifth session/third run of the game

>the deck wasn't rigged to explode when the spider's biomonitor registers death for more than 10 seconds

That spider was a scrub and didn't deserve that deck in the first place.

Just let her do the test to reset ownership, then once she installs her own OS and copies her programs over she's gucci. She probably isn't getting a deck upgrade (without modding the CIY herself) for a while, though.

It's not the end of the world, the new deck is about as good as a level 6 sprite. It's not like you gave her an Excalibur or a Cyber-7.

Again, I don't see the problem. Decks are grotesquely overpriced. Despite the supposed price difference, it's only a minor difference in actual power.

What's a good name for a mildly popular soap opera for a runners significant other might watch in Seattle? Looking for a bit more fluff but I can't think of a good name besides like "Runs of our Lives" or something equally lame

"You, me and the street sammy"
It's about a human face and his ork girlfriend, living together. But since he has no place the elf razorboy moves in with them. Hilarity ensues

I'd watch that shit.

>the elf is played by a guy with charlie sheen biosculpting and personafix
>the character's low essence is used as a justification for him acting like charlie harper

That night at the stuffer shack

That's a sitcom, not a soap.

>Flowers of Moray
>A team of Aztlan researchers explore the Incan ruins of Moray, engaging in torrid romances, professional rivalries, and heartbreaking reveals. Brought to you by Aztechnology.

>Ruutsu Guroo Diipu
>A Japanese family, left behind in California after the fall of the Saito regime, deal with their neighbours, friends, and community after their fall from grace

>Bugland General
>A group of doctors who volunteered to help rebuild Chicago butt heads while saving lives. Horizon backing means an impressive production budget, notable guest stars, and subtle jabs at Ares' handling of the situation

shedim: yes or no

Depends.
For what?

secondary antagonists

Awesome, these both sound absolutely perfect for what I'm trying to do.
And since I'm somewhat new to the general, what books would I find them in?

Friends in High Places, Run Faster p147
Trust Fund, Run Faster 151

yes

You could asspull something, give the new deck some flaw. Maybe some of its components were factory defective and one of its parameters is lower than they should be, or maybe it only has a couple of uses left in it.

I'm looking to get into Shadowrun, should I do 4th or 5th edition?

>the deck's hardware IDs are registered with GOD as belonging to a dead spider
>every time a persona running on it gains OS, roll an extra d6 and double the OS gained on a 5 or 6
>this isn't communicated to the decker, but it might be hinted at if she absolutely destroys a check overwatch score test

4th edition is best edition dont listen to anyone who says otherwise.

Source: my completely factual and unbiased opinion.

Or just give her the Wanted by GOD quality for as long as she's using the deck

Thanks, I'll probably find a way to work all of these soaps into some descriptions of downtime activities or what other people might be doing.

I'll probably find a way to include this too, but it's obviously a sitcom like was said. Not that that's bad, I would watch the shit out of it, but I was looking for something dumb and complicated a girlfriend, or obsessed contact, might annoy the runner with.

So a bumblebee or sterl lynx with some armor slapped on can take full clip from ares alpha without any damage but the moment APDS are involved they die in one or two hits.
Im kinda pissed off

My question is wtf are Shedim and how can they be good antagonists besides killing people because evil.

I've read the street grimoire bit on them, but it was kinda vague. They are probably horrors, but how can they be portrayed as scary?

That's a great idea. Here's a better one. Don't punish the decker for your stupidity.
It's not like it matters, all a good deck does is give a decker higher limits, which don't matter unless your dicepool is high enough to hit them.

Well yeah. That's the thing about heavy armor on drones. They can withstand any amount of small arms fire, but they go down quick if you know what you're up against and prepare accordingly.
Bodysnatchers! They kill people and take their place. Like insect spirits, but they're undead.

Changing owner requires a specific test that requires days, on any failures a message is sent to the owner (Usually the corp) who gets the location and the attempts at stealing their hardware.

Unless they do it in a Faraday cage, you can easily get it from them.

Also a Sony isn't the end of the world, you can get it at Chargen iirc.

>It's not physically possible to discuss ideas you don't plan on acting on
>I get personally offended when people even talk about something I don't like

t. Clockwork

How hard would it be to adapt the old 2e insect spirit adventures to 5e?

Shit, forgot the name was on.

Hey guys, first time DMing Shadow Run. Since my group uses Roll20, and there isn't a 4th edition char sheet (been told that's the best to start with), should we use 5th, or is it as user friendly for first timers?

5th is arguably more newbie-friendly, since the mechanics are less complex versions of what 4e had.
See: Deckers, who in 4e basically required the GM to run a whole second game, but in 5e require a lot less work.

The adventure concept itself is easy enough to copy. Most of the mechanics and stat blocks would have to be converted by hand. Depending on how much verisimilitude you demand from your runs, you can mostly get through it by just eyeballing stats and skill pools though.

In terms of the rules? Not very. All the insects are statted out in SG, easy enough to do the various NPCs.

In terms of play? Very hard. Unless your group is completely new to SR, they're going to realise what's up pretty quickly. The big thing about those early adventures was that you had no idea what was going on: Insect Spirits just weren't a known quantity, so it was all very strange and terrifying to experience for the first time. Queen Euphoria and Missing Blood just won't have the same impact now that "the kidnapee was taken by insect shamans" is a cliche.

That's great, my group has no idea about insect shamans. I have been running a slightly modified setting, and all their info about the game world they have so far is from a booklet I gave each of them.

In that case go for it. How are things looking vis a vis the Universal Brotherhood/Chicago?

Chicago never happened, and the Universal Brotherhood emerged in the year 2068. They've had a huge amount of growth, and now have over 500 chapters worldwide. Everything else setting wise is about the same, though I'm not going to use any CFD stuff. I just realy liked the old insect stuff, and wanted to run it in the more modern setting. The team has gone on some normal runs, so this won't be their first.

Character sheets in 4e are a mistake, anyway. You should all save yourselves the trouble and download Chummer.

Essence drain can be fun for the victim, and the loss is barely noticeable.

Interactive sheets in Roll20 are kind of the point of roll20 though.

So first things first, your decker needs to hack the deck to gain ownership of it. This is a pretty big deal - If he crit glitches, he bricks the deck irreparably. If he glitches, it phones home to its owner, likely the corp office given that it's corporate property that was simply assigned to the spider. And if he forgets to reassign ownership, the corp will notice that their spider's deck is gone and ping for it, and then it's just a matter of time before they send a HTR team to conduct a tactical exchange for this missing company property.

If the decker succeeds, the Sony isn't gamebreakingly more powerful than the Tsurugi. Bump up the challenge of the matrix opposition that the decker has to deal with if he's getting stuff done too easily.

Besides, having stolen corp property is a plot hook waiting to happen

How do you not get pulled over by the cops running around with a huge claymore or virbosword?

Or for that matter, how do sword characters do anything without causing panic?

Just keep the fact that he has a stolen deck in your back pocket. Like, maybe he tries to get it past airport/corp security, and when he declares his cyberdeck, and shows the guards his license, they notice the serial numbers match one reported stolen.

Or maybe a friend/former-SO of the spider has been tracking the decker down in their spare time, so halfway into a run when the decker notices attempts to put a mark on his deck. But they clearly don't belong to the enemy host. Then the decker has to talk to the persona in front of him, and convince them to not trip an alarm or send their location to the security chief. Hope the decker invested in even a little charisma

Sounds like you've got the right setup to go ahead with the Universal Brotherhood, then.

I haven't run much from the 7300 series in ... let's say a while, but I remember some things. Queen Euphoria is the weakest one, kinda railroady and Mercurial does the "glitzy starlet meets grungy streets" job better, though it does show off the reach of the bugs. Missing Blood is fantastic if you have a party willing to do some investigating and not just start shooting every possible suspect, and the bug reveal is great. And of course Double Exposure is a great climax, though the setup strongarming the players into the real adventure is a bit rough.

If I was in your shoes, I'd do the first half of Euphoria and see how the players take to her as a character, while it still is a regular job (maybe toss in the blackmail adventures from DE as well over the next couple sessions) and let them collect the reward for a job well done. Go on to Missing Blood for the big reveal of insect spirits, then either loop back around to finish QE or dive right into DE and bring it all to a big finale. Bonus points if you manage to line everything up so it ends on August 22.

It's weird, recently I haven't been able to do weapon modifications in chummer. Anyone else having this problem?

Some places won't shy from you wearing a sword on your back or on your hip, its just good sense if you're a swordsman.

In less shitty parts of town you get away with it by not carrying the sword in a traditional holster. The Guitar Case is a cliche, but theres real value in the concept. The Bodyguard of the Face is also a classic. It helps if you're a big troll or ork.

Sword characters have to rely heavily on Sweep in 5e to not murder each Rent-a-cop they need to take out, so that usually helps keep them out of the news.

In what way?
Style, my friend.

Depending on the size of the sword, you can keep one in a cyber arm/leg. A little bigger? Then maybe have the sheath be a cane or some mundane object.

If even bigger; smuggling compartment in the car/bike. Take it out before you get to where the wetwork is gonna happen.

If you want shits and giggles, get a custom job/disguise to the blade to make it look like its made out of nerf foam. Then have the sheath be an actual foam sheath the same color as the blade.

Anyone could point me towards the latest update to Two-Dee's Storytime? Thanks in advance.

>implying having a cane isn't just as conspicious

Unless you're a Sioux elder there's no reason for imperfection, omae

...

Do your best corvo attano impression and hide a small one in your trenchcoat.

Failing that, in a lot of areas "sword guy" is a common enough profession that you can get away with it if you've got the right licenses and probable cause to be there carrying a sword.

>if he forgets to reassign ownership
Also, without ownership or the benevolence of the owner, you need to hack marks to use something - that means overwatch and regular resets.

I right click on the weapon, and it only gives me an option for accessories, not for modifications

Thanks, omae.

>Recently
Good lord, we pulled that functionality out like six months ago. Modifications have been merged with Accessories, since there's no functional difference between them anymore.

Rolled for it a bit after I posted, and he succeeded on all the rolls with no glitches, for both the deck and everything else they'd stolen

step one: have a working sin
step two: have a working license
step three: you are now legally able to be a bodyguard

>latest

Hey, did he ever come back for this group's Hong Kong adventures?

Nothing was said about Hong Kong, afaik

Those ideas are fucking stupid. Don't punish players. Scavenging decks is literally the only way to actually get a new deck in play.

Take a leaf out of SR:HK's book and employ the Gaichu Defense.

"Oh this? It's just cosplay prop."

The default setting is fairly heavy handed on corps being able to fill expensive products with all manner of tracking devices - both hardware and software. If you didn't make it yourself, you probably should be a little paranoid at the best of times.

What you've got to remember is when Shadowrun and the cyberpunk novels it's based on were written, Japan was a much bigger economic powerhouse and a flanderized version Japanese culture is a big element as well other more fantasy themed cultures, so a sword is kind of a legitimate fashion accessories.

In our last campaign, the characters ended up taking a long term job by EVO, that culminated in assassinating a UCAS senator.
Their payment basically ended up being "we give you new, legit corp sins, build a new life for you and we will keep you save from persecution"
Two characters took the EVO citizenship and new identity, but eventually just settled down in the services of a dragon they me during their runner days.
The third character just went all dark wizard and simply disappeared back into the shadows, and the rigger just retired as EVO engineer.

How am I supposed to bling weapons?

Add Accessory.

Wait, is the bling the asian girl? That seem inefficient.

Bling is obviously the gratuitous cat ears.

What, like this?