Eighties Action Fest.

Given Jack's history (and USG ties), it could be he started trying to found the group with Charon (who he met in some hell-hole or another), but got static from the USG. Reaching out to try and smooth things over (heavy weapons licenses, explosives permits, authorization to operate stateside, etc.), their ideas landed on Andrea's desk. Depending on how long ago the group was founded, she could have had her family blown up and then used her clout and some favors owed (plus skeletons staying buried) to get the group okayed in exchange for their first contract: be part of her private war on the cartels. After she "cleaned up" with all the help she dug up, she was given "detached duty" with what many would see as her "pet project". Sounding good?

On a side note, Marco, do you have a problem with me using my Mastermind minions to represent temporary "trustworthy allies" that she taps for whatever the team needs covered (or as a tac-team to save us should we get captured and someone saw it coming)? I would explain this as her reaching out to all the contacts she has built over the years, the people who owe her favors, or even all the other people who joined her in her war on the cartels...which is why they can show up just as long as needed anywhere before going back to their dayjobs. I would roleplay this; if I didn't call/plan ahead, then they aren't available.

And anyone need any sweet gear before we get IC?

@GabrielLong- cool deal. Still fleshing out concept. Kinda hard being a medic but still keeping the badassery of a gun toting fiend.

Also, where are the rules for crafting? Several advanced classes mention building things and one even has crafting xp built into it, but I can't find rules for crafting on SRD. Just curious.

Charon would likely have met Jack during some antics near the end of his career, probably doing some "clean up" for the oil industry. He would have arranged for a large portion of the funding for the start-up, mostly through corporate favors and some criminal contacts. Charon probably already knew (or at least heard of) Andrea, having worked closely with the cartels in the past, and was likely caught breaking into her office while trying to help Jack with paperwork (Charon's definition of paperwork being "steal required documents"). After somehow not being shot, or at least not getting shot anywhere vital, and escaping, Andrea's investigation into the intrusion would lead her to the stalled attempt to get the proper permits. After meeting with Jack, who is by far more persuasive than Charon, she would have arranged to get the group greenlighted in turn for aiding her Mexican campaign.

OK, answering question:
-Yeah, you can use the Mastermind allies for support staff and backup troops. Do bear in mind, man, that they won't always be available.

-As for backstory for the group, sure let's go with that: Charon and Jack first met in the military and when they got out, they went to become mercs, with Andrea providing the contacts for some of the heavy stuff. First mission was searching and destroying as many members of the cartel that blew up Andrea's folks as the intel could find.

(And of course, they didn't got them all. You know how this goes with origin story villains-there's always some survivor with a grudge who wants to get back at the heroes avenging some atrocity that HIS group committed. He/she will probably appear later on in the campaign).

Crafting rules..... I think they are described on the skills section, man, under whichever skill you wanna craft with. There are a couple (like Techie) that have the rules on the class section by the Special Ability, as well.

After three instances of mythweavers ****ing up on saving my character sheet, I finally have fixed Charon's inventory, as well as given him some new toys.

Sorry. The issue I was talking about is why does that advanced class have extra experience listed for making items, when the crafting rules in the skills section have no mention of experience needed to make anything? That's what was confusing me. I figured I was missing something somewhere. But I guess no exp is needed to craft things, just wealth. I may have missed it but do we get to rule profession checks for wealth increases from level 1-10 if we take profession skill?

Crafting mastercraft items using the Techie's class feature or the Mastercraft feat from d20 Future uses XP.

Emissary: The background sounds good to me. Mind you, unless you were actively pointing a weapon at her, she usually would at least ask "Why?" first; she saves shooting first for the obvious bad guys. Since you *snuck* into her office, you probably were trying to be relatively "law-abiding". So, sounds good to me.

Marco: I actually figured if I didn't carefully plan ahead, they wouldn't be available. (Call it an assumption from years of playing/running Shadowrun in pen and paper. No careful prior-planning, no assets available.) And having yet more evil cartel guys with a mutual kill-grudge is cool. Thank you for including us in the world-building.

I have to say, again, This Should Be...fun. ::Grins::

Speaking of Shadowrun.... if this baby goes off alright, I may try to run a pseudo-Shadowrun game with D20M. Urban Arcana mixed with Future, maybe.

But that will be in the future.

I'm not sure if trying to bend d20M to allow the usual 'hijinks' that take place in Shadowrun either scares me...or makes me feel sympathy for you. Never mind, definitely sympathy. Good luck if you make it happen.