Looping the Hen Games

The Spheric Tradition is outside the mainstream of the'standard' magical theories, Hermeticism and Shamanism. Sphericism numbers only in the dozens of practictioners, but in general Artisans, as they call themselves, look in disdain upon those they call Ether-Worshippers or Sprit-Mongers.

Newton Tchaikovsky, one of several Artisans who agreed to be interviewed, was very open about the tenets of Sphericism. 'As a venerable science fiction writer once said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." You could say that is definitional to our creed. All practioners of 'magic' are simply obeying universal laws through what everyone will someday think of as basic science. Just as splitting an atom generates huge amounts of energy, the spells of a Shaman, Mage or Artisan are simply a different way of harnessing the energy that is omnipresent in all things."

"We don't subjugate spirts as the mage or worship them like the shaman; those are simply illusions they build for themselves because they cannot comprehend the science. We create constructs through the arts and sciences, much as a programmer might code an artificial intelligence or a bio-engineer does for sentient dolphins. For Artisans, ideas have power. Through the use of a mathematical formula, we can create a concussive force, or various forms of energy. Through a geometric proof, we can reconstruct a physical body to add strength, agility, even intellect. And through thought itself, or what Spherics call the Binding Principle, or just Truth, we can create something tangible from the intangible."

"Artisans use the arts and sciences to create a framework for power generated by the ever-present harmonics of the celestial spheres. No, don't raise your eyebrows. Copernicus almost had it right and could be considered the founder of our society. Why do you think all of the most important objects in our lives are spheres? The sun, the moon, the planets. Even more, any object you can imagine spinning and rotated at sufficiently high speeds will take on the appearance of a sphere. I am not talking about the spheres as presented in ancient times, which was a naive notion. But like many of the ideas propogated throughout the renaissance, there was a huge kernel of truth in Copernicus' ideas. All matter in the universe exists within the boundaries of progressively larger dimensional spheres. When I apply thought to that mathematical formula mentioned earlier, it causes a resonance in the sphere layered on this space, generating energy, which is manifested physically when the barrier separating the physical from the immaterial is temporarily disrupted."

Artisans believe there are 4 pillars upon which the Binding Priniciple rests. The pillars of science are Geometry and Mathematics and the pillars of art are Language and Music. Upon this structure, they say, the entire universe is built.

Posted by at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, as my backup character I made our first mage, and realized it would definitely play much differently than other characters. Some parts of it look ridiculously overpowered, but others look like you end up with less overall diversity because it costs so much in both build points, credits, and karma.

For example, his basic spell, Stunbolt, will likely incapacitate any metahuman other than a troll in one shot. One silent, invisible shot, where I don't even have to act like I am casting a spell. I get 11 dice vs. the opponents Willpower only, likely 2-4, with a base damage of 6s. On average I will get 4 hits to my opponents, 1, doing 9 damage. So maybe not a 1 shot kill, but it might as well be. I can also overpower the spell to up 8 easy enough. (all spells can be overpowered up to twice their force, so I could do a Force 12 Stunbolt; increasing the force makes it more likely a mage will take damage every time they cast a spell)

On the other side of the coin, the Mage version of cyber/biotech is both very expensive and costs karma, where most characters don't lose anything adding most tech (well, other than essence). For example, a talisman to add 3 dice to one spellcasting category would run 45,000 credits as well as 12 karma. The additional possibility of losing the item makes it very scary; high price is one thing, but losing 12 karma because someone steals a random item from you would be very discouraging.

Also, Drain is another balancer to mages. Every time a mage casts a spell, there is a chance he takes damage; the more powerful the spell, the more damage he can take.

Summoning spirits also seems pretty powerful (though this is also the easiest way to knock yourself unconscious). A basic Force 4 air spirit has 16 reaction, Dodge 4, plus Immunity to Normal Weapons giving it Armor 8 (however, if the DV does not exceed 8, the spirit doesn't even have to roll a damage resistence test). At that level it probably won't do much damage, but is nearly impossible to kill. A Force 6 spirit is up to 24 reaction, 6 dodge, and armor 12 and could do a lot of damage (6p).

It will certainly be interesting to play. It might make parts of a particular adventure very easy (combat mostly) unless spellcasters regularly show up as NPC's. However, that could add even more to the easy lethality of the game.

Posted by at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I don't know how my life came to this; it definitely was not supposed to be like this. I glanced at the virtual readouts on my electric blue Suzuki Mirage as it approached the redline, it's engine a high whine that resonated with several of my implants, causing a touch of system shock. The go-gangers were falling further behind each second, but that was not my biggest concern at the moment. Flying through the Twin Hills slums at nearly 200 kilometers per hour was dangerous enough, where a random child, trash can, or overturned streetlight could land me in the morgue, but worse was knowing I only had 11 minutes left to make the datachip drop.

Ending up in run-debt to this particular Johnson was as good as signing up for a year's worth of suicide runs, probably the Kansas City-New Reno-Dubuque loop. There were worse things in the desert than go-gangers, and a cute street shaman I'd once lived with told me they'd be drawn to my tech like a rat pinscher to drek. But at least on this particular jaunt, that tech had saved my life more than once. Piloting the Japanese bike at over 100 klicks was only something I would do with my wires on; the reflex enhancements had set me back a year's gig, but I knew I would need an edge if I wanted to take on the high-kale speed-courier assignments. Seeing and interacting with the world in slow motion was an addictive experience, and one I knew not to abuse lest I end up like every other burnout.

Still, I sometimes felt my humanity leaking out of me like oil from the old Yamaha I made my first delivery on. I was scared of the dark as a child, so the cyber-eyes were obvious, and my first implants. I'd guilted my parents into buying them for my graduation from Tech School. No big deal, and only people running active lev 6 scans ever knew I had them. Still, my parents nearly disowned me when I got busted peeping into Sally Straw's bedroom window at 1am, not 3 days after install.

The control rig implanted into the back of my skull is a little longer story. When my parents nearly ended up dust after a late-night B&E by some stimmed-up ganger, I knew our section of zoo was out of control. I had made a killing selling creds I pilfed from a million newbs in Eve 6.5 until I zapped one of a mod's sig-ots and got booted. That paid for the drone-rig and a couple of GM-Nissan Dobermans. At my parents insistence I went with the stun-stik mod instead of a belt-fed automatic (I later found out my Dad didn't want anyone running his SIN, which would be required for the Ingram, and that it wasn't any of his old-lib ideals manifesting themselves as concern over gang-bangers).

A few months later when the ganger tried to hit us again with some of his slimy friends the puppies worked just fine. After emptying their credsticks and nicking their jackets, I got my hands on the modded Pred-4 semi-aut I still carry today. No one much bothered our squat 2 bedroom slum-house after that, though dad did replace the aging wooden fence with some electric chain and concertina wire, so I don't know whether that was for fear of being eloctruted by the by steel mesh or being brought down by 400 pounds of faux-barking goodness.

As the snows came down heavy and radiated that winter, me and that Pred-4 making courier rounds of Denver proper on an old Japanese dirt-racer, picking up nickels and dimes. Doing cake-runs for mid-level suits paid the bills, but I knew that was not the way to wealth and power. (Yes, I was young and naive to think a slummer punk could find any way to wealth and power.) However, with visions of sugar-plums and nuyen dancing in my head on Christmas Eve 2067, chance put me in the path of Gerald Grieves, alias Spartacus, a local merc, and perhaps my closest friend.

A botched courier run the previous night had left Chuckie Tillman's Swift Courier Inc. quite short on manpower. I had done a couple of slum-runs for old Chuckie-boy, and he knew I wasn't afraid of a little risk if there were zeroes attached to my paystick. Spartacus was to be my cover as we picked up a package south of Denver in Aztlan. If things went wrong, I was to haul-tail to an underground tunnel run by Swift Courier Coyotes and pray that Gerald's augments gave me a chance to hit the border before I got shot in the back.

Well, things went wrong, and no mistake. Instead of grabbing the steel case and jetting as quick as I could get it stowed as I normally did, I found myself face to face with Brazilia, the Aztlan courier. A little shy of two meters tall, hair to her shoulders died azure with silver taglights running the length, and hypnotic eyes of no color that had ever existed in nature. Underneath her left eye was a digital tatoo of Quetzacouatl, feathered serpent of a thousand hues. It slid beneath her skin and she smirked as my eyes couldn't decide what to focus on: her eyes, her face, her augs, or the figure-hugging jumpsuit of electric blue. Her body was tight and fit and I knew immediately she rode as well, her bike's chrome sparkling dimly at the far side of the dark warehouse. When she winked at me, a slow, langorous movement, her eyelid sparkling sapphire, the world stopped.

Watching her, my breath caught, my heart skipped and my voice caught in my throat. The 45 seconds it took me to stammer a not-very-smooth hello probably cost her her life. The moment I decided I loved her, the first bullets sprayed from a jeep-mounted Ingram behind us. The Aztlan courier team opened up as well, but I knew it was already too late for Brazilia, as a half-dozen rounds nearly cut her in half. Before loss could form or my brain could even register what happened, Spartacus had me planted behind some steel pilings and had gone to work. I had never seen someone move so fast, and thought it must be the grief distorting my vision. Three members of the Ares Interception Team went down before I thought to pry my Pred-4 from its holster. Still, even the big mercenary wouldn't charge a 50-cal, and the Ingram was laying down heavy suppression fire on the opposite side of the warehouse, pinning down the remainder of the Aztlan unit, when the rage came on me.

I was on my bike before I knew what I was doing, the old engine purring gamely for a second before I gunned it in the direction of the jeep. Halfway to my destination the gunner noticed a madman on a dirtbike firing wildly toward him with a semi-auto and began to bring the White Knight around to end my life. He was almost grinning when I plowed the little bike into his jeep. He didn't grin when fate improbably decided to intervene and I rocketed toward the turret like a walnut launched from a slingshot. My helmet caught him under the chin with a crack and we went over the other side, me landing on top. Before he was able to regain his senses I had started to pound his head into the hard concrete of the warehouse floor.

I don't know how long I did so, but it took Grieves manhandling me to make me stop. If the gunner had once had a skull, it no longer resembled anything but a random lump of processed oatmash. Snapping to, I looked around, noting only Gerald and I remained in the cavernous building. He looked at me but didn't say a word and just handed me the case, silver with several rust-colored slashes. I recoiled slightly at the sight of her blood, but the big merc pushed it into my hands. He was insistent, but gave a knowing nod as well, and gestured over his shoulder and said I had 30 seconds to say goodbye.

I tried to argue. "Man, my ride's busted, there's no way I can get this back across the border in time." He pointed again and I knew what he had really meant.

"Sorry chummer, but she really won't need it."

I glanced at her for only a second as I passed her body, and I barely recongnized the life it once held. With her bioelectic engine dead, the taglights in her hair had stopped twinkling and the electric tatoo on her cheek was no more than a spec of black nanotic ink.

I wasn't the slightest bit surprised when I fired up her Suzuki and the body shone a rich, electric blue.

Posted by at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I thought maybe I could try to pre-empt some of the challenges that come from death and dying. As Shadowrun is really a game of missions (although the ramifications of any particular mission may be very long-lived indeed), dealing with the loss of a character should be easier than D&D ever was (though no death should ever be easy). I hope the following thoughts my help.

First, my suggestion is everyone make a 2nd character now, right at the beginning. I would even try to make something completely different, and have that character even potentially be a 'contact' to the main character. Then, if a main ever dies, there is an easy transition to a new character. Also, having a Sniper backup, or a bioSWAT member, or a Helicopter Pilot, might be useful as well. As the character progression is slower in Shadowrun, and the 'power variances' are high even in starting characters, I also probably wouldn't have a problem with switching characters between sessions if that idea appeals to anyone.

Second, if a character dies, your new character can start with the same number of Karma as the old character had. The level loss thing in D&D was kind of arbitrary and consistently weirded the game (my fault), so I'm just going to do away with the death penalty. Losing a cool character is probably more than enough penalty.

Finally, I just want to note that at some point, one or more character deaths are inevitible, and I hope when it happens it won't dampen anyone's enjoyment too much. As you saw, a full-blooded Street Samurai can go down in one round, and had he gotten off his attacks first, could likely have done the same to anyone in the party. Heaven forbid you have to face a squad of them (or to be honest, a squad of anything simultaneously, which hasn't really happened yet, though it was close this weekend). I've tried (for my own benefit as well) to introduce just very small pieces of the game at a time. There are deadlier things to come for all players that will have to be dealt with. For example, drones, mages, spirits, for almost everyone, IC and defending hackers for Gribble, more complex security (biometrics, RFID) for Nadia and higher-level and bio/drug-enhanced corporate personalities for the face. Additionally, squads and bad guys also have edge they can use based on their professional level, and they'll start using it more regularly as we move forward.

So, if and when a character loss happens, I hope we'll all just take a short break, honor the memory of one fallen, and get back at it.

I'm open to any other options, suggestions and comments. This isn't set in stone, but I thought it might be a good way to address some of the challenges we've had in this area.

Posted by at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Dionysius Phamaceuticals Blame Faulty Fusion for Fire

It is being reported that a 3000-degree fire at the Bethden Hills Research Facility was caused by a ruptured faxil valve on unit 4 of their on-site sub-fusion generator, and not by a terrorist cell as was initially reported on the Lone Star CrimeNet. Adjustors are calling the facility a complete loss, and accountants at several regulatory agencies are guessing the lengthy insurance process will force Dionysius into Chapter 22 Bankruptcy proceedings. Aztechnology, parent of DPI, has distanced themselves from their subsidiary. A leak from an anonymous manager show reports of lackadaisical safety procedures.

The death toll stands at 32.

Policlub Massacre Sparks Meta-Tension, Alamos 20k Reprisal at Ork Enclave

"We were just having a peaceful march when out of nowhere the dirty orks began attacking us. We were weaponless. Defenseless. And they just slaughtered us. And they say they wonder why our organization exists. Just take a look, the corpses are stacked like cordwood." So says Dave Dukelin, organiser of this weekend's Policlub March for Unanymity where more than 100 Humanis members were slain by a previously unknown ork military society. So far no one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Alamos 20k, often called the militant arm of the Unanymity movement, struck back. Using milspec armored vehicles and weapons, they leveled the Red Tuskan Bareo on the outskirts of Denver; 30 orks and several trolls are reported dead, including 10 human children who an ork mother said had come to play whizball at a local field. 55 more were injured and taken to a local clinic.

Commlink Prototype Goes Missing Along With Inventor, Ares Shares Down

Noted physicist, inventor and playboy Vladimir Kruschenkov has been missing for over a week and Lone Star has called off the search. It is assumed he was killed some time after 8pm on June 9. He was last seen entering a limousine owned by a local high-society metahuman outside a poche downtown restaurant where he was dining prior to unveiling his latest creation. The XJ-12, a prototype comm-unit purported to be capable of stable quantum processing and 2048-bit encryption as well as an optional 7-point AI, was supposed to propel Ares back on top on the commlink market. Shares are down more than 3 points to 232.75.

Ares is offering a reward of 100,000 nuyen for information leading to an arrest or recovery of either the prototype or Vladimir Kruschenkov, no questions asked.

Posted by at 8:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I thought that went pretty well for a first game on a new system. Everyone was involved and did what their character specialized in, which as Gribble commented, is much different than our D&D games normally were. I think it's nice that the system lends itself to many ways to solve problems. It was also cool to actually finish a two-part mission, and then some, into one session. Reading the book should actually make more sense now that we've tried some stuff, so I will go over it again this week, and whoever has the other one should as well.

For everyone's benefit, here are a couple of links you should check out:

www.dumpshock.com and the Dumpshock forums are the two main Shadowrun sites on the net. When reading the forums, you should probably stick to the 4th Edition one so as not to get confused; there were a lot of changes between 3rd and 4th.

This site is the one where I got the little print-out sheets for combat; everyone should probably print out their own, potentially for ranged and melee. It has a lot of other cool tools on it also.

Posted by at 8:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I’ve learned a lot gaming with y’all over the last couple of years. As we look to a new campaign, and maybe bring on board some new players, I wanted to try something. As a GM, I am interested in what type of a game y’all are looking for, and what things you find fun in a game, and what you don’t. We all play to have fun first, and everything else second. To help in that pursuit, I really want to know what parts of our games (if any) have been the most fun, and what have been the least. To help determine that, I’ve put together some questions on topics I know have caused some consternation to help figure out where I am in relation to y’all. I hope everyone who wants to continue to play together will take a few to answer the questions below, plus provide any additional feedback you would like to offer.

Thanks!

TT's campaign and social contract

What types of game do you like best - action-based or role-playing? (use percentages to indicate how you would like your game to look)

Do you want the GM to fudge (to keep characters alive, for example, or to keep the villain you've been tracking for 6 months from going down to the first critical hit or stun effect) -
Never
Rarely
Occasionally
Often

How much does character death affect your enjoyment of the game?
Much
Some
Little
Not at all

Character death should happen:
Never (if the answer is never, please give me an idea on how to maintain tension and risk vs. reward)
Rarely
Occasionally
Often

Would you rather have your character improve through stat bonuses, skill points, luck and the like or through cool stuff, like weapons, armor or tech? (use percentages)

How much impact do you want your character to have on the world? Which best describes: (save the town; save the city; save the country; save the world; save the universe?) How much should that scale as characters grow in power? (Do you want the players to always be just one part of the world or should they always be saving the world?)

How many mood-setting, or minor scenes should there be? (For example, minor combats, side quests, NPC discussions, etc)

How do you want to acquire your stuff? Do you want to role-play acquisition or be able to assume most general merchandise is available to buy between sessions as long as you have the cash?

How much wealth should be available? (low, medium, high...whatever we can get our hands on?)

How much of the action should the dice determine? (Dice are deities, they should determine everything!; Dice are dirt, they should only determine combat!; Dice should be used for anything above an 'everyday action'; Dice should only be used for difficult actions)

Most adventures should be:
Life-threatening
Challenging
Moderate
Easy

Additionally, I would like to offer up what my guidelines will be when running games. Feel free to discuss these as well and your thoughts on them.

T's rules of GM'ing

If there is a rules disagreement, no more than 3 minutes should be used during a session to discuss. A note should be made and a permanent ruling decided after the session, either through discussion or email. The main reason for this rule is simply to avoid spending 4 hours on a minor rules point when we should be playing instead.

All players (and the GM) should be civil to everyone else at all times.

If a players or players do not like something about a game (ongoing or one time), they should feel free to present the topic for discussion.

*Getting on a schedule*: Of course life happens and events will occur that will interfere with a game from time to time, and everyone understands that. However, there needs to be a consistency people can count on that applies as well (I understand this applies to me as well as I've been as guilty as everyone else). Lack of transportation, surgery, kids and the like are good excuses. Shopping, hangovers, playstation or getting food or coffee should not be reasons people are absent or tardy. I commit to putting substantial resources of time (and money, though I don't expect everyone to do that) into a game, and with hope others will do the same. If you want to be a part of a gaming group, be a part of it, and if you don't, don't. If you are unhappy with an aspect of the game, it should be discussed, not ignored through non-participation. If someone is not up for a particular game on a particular day, there are other things the group can do other than cancel, just to keep the continuity of a scheduled game.

I know this can be a touchy subject, but to have a truly workable game, I need to know how to plan my time. If Gribble does run the other half of the Shadowrun game, he’ll know how I feel (and I know Rodney already understands this completely)

Feel free to discuss any of this or anything I have missed!

Posted by at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Well, rereading my last post, I didn't give a lot of information as to why I like the idea of running a Shadowrun (other than it is not the behemoth that is 3.5 and has lots of guns), so I thought I'd expand a little bit.

I'm about 60 pages through the rulebook (300 to go) and I remember some of why I thought it was so cool way back when.

First, although I'm a big fan of sandbox games where everyone gets to do what they want, Shadowrun offers that but is also a hugely mission-focused game. The name of the game even reflects that, as a 'Shadowrun' is the name of a job that a group of hackers, riggers, technomaners and others complete, generally for a mysterious somebody. This should help with the directionless syndrome it felt like my last group had gotten into.

Second, (although it feeds into the first point as well), the game has a system of 'contacts' one can take at character creation, as well as acquire throughout one's career. For example, I can have an Arms Dealer contact (to buy guns), a Fixer contact (to get me work), a Hacker contact (to get me information). So, if someone doesn't feel up to a huge roleplaying event to get a mission, they just give their fixer a call and have them set something up.

Third, the setting is fleshed out and fine with me. I usually tried to create my own settings in 3.5 because I never really cared for any that others had created as other than Eberron and Dark Sun they mostly seemed pretty generic. With Shadowrun, at this point I am mostly worried about learning the rules, so it will be nice to give my brain a rest and use the readily available and fairly detailed free campaign.

And finally, (though maybe most importantl) every round is like a dozen fireballs! Yes! Seriously, no more d12's, d20's, d8's or any other such weirdness! It's all standard 6-siders, all the time! Yay!

Posted by at 9:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (30)

Well, not that I would even recognize the people I play with it has been so long. If we do ever manage to get together again, I've decided to run a Shadowrun campaign. Well, more specifically, I hope to convince Rodney or someone else to co-GM a Shadowrun campaign where we can both have characters that the party runs as NPC's every other session. There is an extended campaign online over at Shadowrun's web site that would make it pretty easy to do so once we learn the rules. (you can also go there to get an overview of the setting)

Why Shadowrun? A couple of reasons, not least of which is because it is not 3.5 D&D. I'm just tired of it and want to try something new. I played Shadowrun 2nd edition a couple of times back in 1990ish (or at least some time around there!) It seemed even more complicated than D&D at the time and we didn't really have a consistent group. However, the setting was fantastic and I remember the Sega Genesis had a Shadowrun game that was awesome (and it still fetches a hefty price on Ebay as a collector's item) that G-Max and I played the heck out of.

Anyway, I'm willing to start as soon as we manage to get 4 people together. I've got a bunch of pre-genereted characters from the book, so we can use them and do an intro adventure to try to learn the rules. If people want to create their own characters from scratch after that they are welcome to. Shadowrun 4th Edition is the rulebook if anyone else wants to pick one up. They are around $23 on Amazon and it's the only book you need to play (that's refreshing in itself!).

Posted by at 8:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)