Jedaii

The Cedar Forest

As the sun sets the new moon rises across the great forest and birdsong gives way to the night melody: crickets, cicadas, owls, frogs and the careful scurrying of nocturnal mammals searching for sustenance. After a warm meal and intermittent chat, the adventurers turn in for a well-deserved respite with one on watch as their horses and canines also rest or sleep. The night passes quietly for the most part with only the passage of deer or buzzing insects to distract the watchman from his thoughts.

But on the third watch well after the midnight hour Rhys is semi-startled by a large shadow passing as something swoops into a cluster of nearby trees! There's a cracking of branches and rustling of leaves that shocks the animals alert and the dogs bark at the adjacent shadows as something comes to rest roughly a hundred feet from the adventurers' camp! The loud barking rouses Kai, Ethraniel and Thaglack as their eyes adjust to the semi-moonlit darkness of the forest! Fortunately most of them can see the heat signatures of various forest creatures sprinting away from the location of the commotion! They see a slender warm humanoid figure in dark robes stumble from the treeline towards the nearby lake - and then stumble and fall with a splash at the water's edge! A long, anguished groan escapes the felled figure as he or she props themself up on an elbow and seems to bring a handful of water up to their hooded face, laying at the shore roughly a hundred feet away!

The dogs continue to bark aggressively and the horses pace and bray at this odd event ...!

2 hours ago, Laird_Thorne said:

I found out the hard way that if you don't take time to feel better, then it take a LOT longer to get back to the swing of things.....

Which I apologize for my absence, but just now really feeling better myself and able to focus/imagine fun stuff. :)

Awesome! I'm going through it myself these last few weeks. Like a "Summer Hangover" or something 😵

Players can make a DC20 Perception check to overhear the AEGIS agents conversation with Mic/Psi-Star.

@Rayth Olivia notices the 'glitter-dust' on her clothing and skin, as would any hero who makes the check I posted (days ago).

Figure there's now around twenty AEGIS agents scattered around the Row with about five at the containment tent and two chatting with Mic. Let's say most of the AEGIS agents, along with all the ECPD officers at the perimeter, are armed (sidearms). But, none of the law-enforcement personnel of either group are making any aggressive or suspicious moves. Unless a PC resists, I'll assume they gave their real name and contact info to AEGIS.

The Yellow Brick Row

Everyone at or near the containment center:

Mars smiles and raises his hands, "Say no more, Special Agent .... McKenzie, right? Your office looks to be handling this emergency with the high level of professionalism this nation's come to expect from AEGIS. I'll get out your way here --" he politely takes his phone with a nod ...

He looks back at Quentin and hands him his phone, "Hey it's phone tag! Here you go and - make sure you let these med-techs check you out, okay? Can't be careless." He fishes a business card from his pocket and hands it also to Quentin with a wink ...

The AEGIS agents complete their evaluations and interviews with the heroes and remaining civilian bystanders, pausing at the end to collect their names and phone numbers to inform them of their test results ...

Psi-Star:

AEGIS agents hurry to SA McKenzie, "Sir, we have a full-scale exposure event here, with some of the affected exhibiting metahuman capabilities. Should we shift operations from containment to confinement?"

I thought I updated this. Apologies if I had you folks waiting for not much going on: I'm kind of waiting to see where you all want to take this. Are you going to explore the city a little more or wait for the next "event"? It's your choice 🙂

Freedom City

Ironworks:

Jake spends the rest of the afternoon nursing a cold one (or two) at a familiar pub, pondering his next move ...

Preserver:

Paul completes a variety of deliveries as the afternoon shifted to evening, then stopped by the center to check in on Mike and the others. Surprisingly he found Monique and the other staffers in good spirits - everyone was chatting about the city's new 'superheroes' - along with the kids, including Michael, who were getting ready for dinner ...

Grigori:

Thomas spent remainder of the day with Myra as she prepped for the evening's gig - she was on pins and needles knowing Ma'at would probably be in attendance. Later they made it over to Eclipse where Myra joined her band and Blackchurch met up with Jameson who had a corner table near the stage. As Crossbones rocked the club dazzling the standing-room-only event, Ma'at and Thomas rekindled an old friendship ...

Vendetta:

As afternoon turned to evening to night Seamus worked tirelessly on technological improvements kmowing he was fast approaching a break-through ...

9 minutes ago, Arcticus said:

Correct.

Magic:

• The Mirage spell requires Scene commitment (there's a handy table on pg. 234).
• Dispel cannot be used to banish summoned spirits because A) it specifies it only functions against spell effects and not standing magical effects created by items and other methods, and B) summoners must commit effort for the day and make a check to banish an opposing spirit.
• For Mage Effort all effort regardless of type used refreshes the next morning after 8 hrs of uninterrupted sleep, not unlike Vancian casters in DnD and PF. If you commit effort for the day, you don't get it back until the next day after you've rested. So if you use all your effort on spells that require committing for the day (typically the more powerful spells), you can't effectively can't cast until the day. If you commit effort effort for the scene or duration, you do get it back after the spell/scene is over. There are 15 spells that have effort commitment of Day and another 3 that have Day commitment for increased effect, so you'll burn through the effort quicker than you think.

Pharmaceuticals:

• Regarding anti-toxins, at least in CWN there doesn't appear to be any specific anti-toxin compounds. I would assume they would be considered part of any first-aid kits/checks made, but I will have to look through the SR books to see if they are prevalent and easily available as I don't rightly recall off the top of my head. So, answer pending on more research.

Punch/Grappling:

• On pg. 36, there are rules for shoving and grappling. You make an unarmed attack that does no damage and if you hit, you roll an opposed Str/Punch or Str/Exert. You may choose to knock a grappled opponent prone. By RAW, you can't "trip" people, but I suppose it would depend on the narrative as to whether I'd allow it or not
• No, there aren't any called shots in CWN.

Thanks for the quick response 👍

17 hours ago, RedMax said:

The key is not telling the players the stats of their opponents.

This method fits with the lore of the genre. Billy the Kid was always the fastest. How did Billy the Kid allegedly meet his end?

Or, better yet, Wild Bill Hickok?

Pretty sure Doc Holiday was the fastest 🤫

9 hours ago, cybersavant said:

Ethraniel has a guard dog and a hunting dog as well as his horse

TWO dogs! LoL Always a good investment 👍

Updating today!

Some questions:

• Magic: the Mirage spell didn't seem to have a committed time so would that be "for the duration"? Could the Dispel spell be used to banish summoned spirits? The description of Mage Effort suggests it's recovered after a good night's rest, but under the individual commitment times, it suggests ME recovers after the spell ends - which is it? 🤔
• Under Pharmaceuticals there's "Medical Prescription" - is it possible in this setting to get anti-toxins over the counter?
• In order to grab a target during combat do I use the Punch skill? What about for tripping a target? Do blows to sensitive areas (e.g. the throat or genitals) cause any extra damage/condition?

The Luck rule will definitely make things more cinematic, which is a good thing for the PCs 🤩

Definitely interested in gun-slinging 👍

Goal: put away $10,000,000

Ties: TBD

Rolling stats and placing them as desired:

STR: 7 (-1)

CON: 8

DEX: 9

INT: 10

WIS: 18 (+3)

CHA: 17 (+1)

LCK: 10 (4/4)

Saves:

• Physical 15
• Evasion 15
• Mental 12
• Luck 15

Hit Points: 6/6

System Strain: 8/8

Race: Human

Background: Criminal

Skills: Sneak, Talk, Cast (Spellcaster), Shoot, Survive + Drive (Roamer), Fix

Edges: Spellcaster, Prodigy (WIS)

Foci: Roamer (never gets lost in Seattle and acquired a Motorcycle)

Attack Bonus: +0 (+1 On Target)

AC: 13 (ranged) 10 (close) -2 damage

Mage Effort: 3

Spells: (2 prepared daily) Mirage, Heal Injury (+1d6 HP + 1 System Strain), Stunwave (1d6@5m-radius), Glide

Contacts:

• Hume Lavell, human (6'2", 200 lbs., late 50s, salt & pepper hair, beard and mustache, brown eyes) fixer; Scratch recovered some stolen equipment for him; acquaintance

• Simone Windsford, human (5'8", 130 lbs., late 20s, long black dreds, brown eyes) attorney; Scratch saved her from a group of drugged-out gangers; acquaintance

Gear: ($500 + 1 item $1,000-)

• Heavy Handgun + 2 extra mags (10m/100m [-2 beyond 10m]; 1d8; 1d6x3 Trauma; $254)
• IR Goggles (Flash protection and Darkvision; one item $1,000-)
• Reinforced Clothing ($100)
• Smoke grenade (10m-radius for 1 round; $25)
• Motorcycle (SPD 1, Armor 4, TT 10, AC 13, HP 10, POW 1, Mass 3, Size S, +1 cargo Space/50kg; from 'Roamer')
• Smartphone w/ plan ($60)
• $61

History:

Someone once said, "Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light".

Kinda sums things up for Ernest "Scratch" Kinlaw. Born and raised in Renton's almost-bedroom community by an odd couple: mom was a Lone Star 'badge' and dad was a hustler who never saw a score he didn't like. After she got fed up and bugged-out, 'Scratch' (his dad called him that because Ernie was always asking for money - and he hated the name 'Ernest') became his pop's accomplice in too many criminal endeavors - which eventually landed pops in prison. Scratch had the choice of government custody or the streets - he chose the latter using the talents he learned from his father to blend in nicely with the Blood Mountain Boys, a local mixed race gang. Scratch's special expertise was his gift of gab which got him and his street pals out of serious trouble on many occasions and led to strengthening his place with the Boys. So much so that the gang's 'Herms' (eccentric street-shamans) shared their esoteric craft with him - and Scratch soaked up the metaphysics of it like a fish to water.

But one night when the Boys went after a wandering Downtowner, a young (attractive) attorney named Simone Windsford. Scratch drew the line defending her and that was the end of his Blood Mountain affiliation but the beginning of his solo experience. He'd heard of 'Shadowrunners' and thought he'd try his hand at it using the connections he'd made running errands for organized crime. One such connection was was a sardonic downtown 'fixer' named Hume Lavell who'd recently been relived of about $20K in personal inventory by a psycho-gang called the Halloweeners. Using all his capabilities, Scratch recovered Lavell's merchandise and in return the latter occasionally did 'business' with the fledgling Runner. The problem was ever so often Hume would have a very flashy run that was made for a team - Scratch wasn't a team. He needed a crew - like-minded semi-trustworthy chummers that could help him snag the ring. Maybe one big enough for Simone's finger.

He just wasn't sure where to start ...

He'll be either a mage or a "Face". Or both 🤪

Will NPCs have Luck as well?

I guess I'm concerned because this game just came out and you already have house-rules for it. Are you sure your changes won't alter how the game plays?

5 minutes ago, RedMax said:

I overstepped there. I'll try to curb my enthusiasm! However you start it is your prerogative, or course, but I do get the feel that we have a similar GMing style.

For the healing, an idea I had was that we just tweak the Healing in whatever system. There could even be an in-game reason for enhanced healing; perhaps some military research involving accelerated healing that we are beta testing....? I know, I know it's your game, but I'm just so excited!

I was thinking something like an Epen: downed PCs can spend a Standard action jabbing themselves with adrenaline which recovers X amount of HP and they pop up ready to rock? Maybe two Epens allowing them to recover twice?

6 minutes ago, RedMax said:

I keep thinking about this game! And if we started in media res, in the middle of a hexmap with our mission parameters, I think this could be so amazing.

I like to do that but the team would need a brief planning phase prior to the action. Getting everyone on the same page is crucial.

Then the chaos begins 🤫

I need Perception rolls (1d20 with your modifier, target number = 11). Watches usually go about eight hours with 2 hours for each PC. The roll is for PCs sleeping on 3rd watch (very early morning prior to sunset). Who's awake on 3rd watch?

Looks like Kai or Ethraniel?

5 hours ago, Arcticus said:

Still sussing out the details, but I'm leaning toward either Brown Business Suit or Black Trenchcoat.

Looks great. Hopefully I can get in on this when you get going.

5 hours ago, Malkavian Grin said:

Okay but why do i have two initiatives? Why does no one else?

It's more to remind me: because Elkor and Vahana had Mighty successes the andrak and guardsmen get no actions on R1 so Adhra acts with the other party members.

On subsequent rounds Adhra drops down to the lower initiative.

22 minutes ago, Zen Gypsy said:

As an FYI after a week of midnight shifts I'm running away to the cottage for the weekend.  Bringing the lap top with me it's my intention to get a post up tomorrow at some point

The bloody cottage?!? Have a great time 👍

@Arcticus What style of game are you running?

16 minutes ago, Excior said:

my bad thanks for helping.

 

so the enemy gets to take the defense score away from my to hit roll?

NP 👍 and YES your foe's Defense score is deducted from your total attack roll. For this, the andraks have a Defense of 2 so you need an 11 to hit them. 6 or more damage downs them.

@Excior when Elkor attacks you should be rolling 2d6 + Agility + Melee.

Looks like you forgot to add Melee with that last roll. So you got a 9 + Melee = 12.

The andrak's defense is 2 so your final number is 10, a hit!

10 hours ago, Excior said:

It looks like on this 1st round you act in the 3rd position then you move to position 5 for the rest of the combat. Im sure the GM will explain the mechanics of it all

Yup

13 hours ago, Malkavian Grin said:

Do I get... 2 initiatives? I don't understand why Adhra's listed twice...

Excior nailed it

@CJL I didn't have a pic so I spitballed an image of a magical dwarf. If you find an image you like better, post it on this thread and I'll replace mine.

Questions about the forest or Atlantis, just let me know. I don't do "info dumps" - instead I give you available info when asked, if appropriate.

So far the posting is great folks - keep it up!