Results 151 to 180 of 734
Thread: General Shadowrun Questions
-
2015-04-12, 10:30 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2014
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
The idea being "Here's a rough description of the guys that robbed us" and "Wait, we were robbed?" respectively.
Also, laés is an Awakened drug, so it doesn't come up on mundane scans. Should a healing mage go all wibbly-wobbly magic-diagnosis, he'll pick it up, but not the average urinalysis. Which is in and of itself not something DocWagon does when they pull up to a suspected concussion patient.
-
2015-04-12, 03:37 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2007
- Location
- San Antonio, Texas
- Gender
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
So, this is a bit of a 1e/2e question, but feel free to chime in with later perspectives, since it's a hypothetical.
So, the bioware Symbiotes and Suprathyroid both require additional food intake. Is this just pure calories, or do they have increased nutritional requirements of other stuff, too? I mean, they mention that folks with these are noshing non-stop, but I was also thinking of the option of just going with high-calorie options... like protein powder, milkshakes, etc.The Cranky Gamer
*It isn't realism, it's verisimilitude; the appearance of truth within the framework of the game.
*Picard management tip: Debate honestly. The goal is to arrive at the truth, not at your preconception.
*Mutant Dawn for Savage Worlds!
*The One Deck Engine: Gaming on a budget
Written by Me on DriveThru RPG
There are almost 400,000 threads on this site. If you need me to address a thread as a moderator, include a link.
-
2015-04-12, 03:52 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2006
- Location
- England
- Gender
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
I'd think it was just pure calorie requirement.
I'd say the reason people would be eating constantly is, well if you could eat all you like and just burn it off why waste that on tasteless protein powder when you could be eating steaks, chocolate, cakes, greasy food............God I'm hungry nowAll Comicshorse's posts come with the advisor : This is just my opinion any difficulties arising from implementing my ideas are your own problem
-
2015-04-12, 05:00 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2008
- Location
- Bottom of a well
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
Just from a biology explanation, I'd say that you'd need at least some additional nutrients, if not the exact palate of a typical metahuman. Thyroids need Iodine right, a thyroid with additional output would require additional iodine to carry out its functions.
-
2015-04-13, 06:04 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2008
- Location
- Orlando, FL
- Gender
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
How much more calories? The protein powder sounds like an idea. Just add some extra vitamins and snacks to round it out.
-
2015-04-13, 08:39 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2011
- Location
- Sharangar's Revenge
- Gender
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
I seem to recall Shadowtech talking about recipients just packing protein bars as an alternative to constantly stuffing your face with regular food. So pure calories wouldn't be enough, but mix some proteins in and you're golden.
Warhammer 40,000 Campaign Skirmish Game: Warpstrike
My Spelljammer stuff (including an orbit tracker), 2E AD&D spreadsheet, and Vault of the Drow maps are available in my Dropbox. Feel free to use or not use it as you see fit!
Thri-Kreen Ranger/Psionicist by me, based off of Rich's A Monster for Every Season
-
2015-04-14, 12:38 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2011
- Location
- Sharangar's Revenge
- Gender
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
Virtual Realities 2.0/3.0 question: Other than Sleaze and Deception, what are the best programs to max out?
Warhammer 40,000 Campaign Skirmish Game: Warpstrike
My Spelljammer stuff (including an orbit tracker), 2E AD&D spreadsheet, and Vault of the Drow maps are available in my Dropbox. Feel free to use or not use it as you see fit!
Thri-Kreen Ranger/Psionicist by me, based off of Rich's A Monster for Every Season
-
2015-04-14, 02:14 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2008
- Location
- Bottom of a well
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
Okay, so help me understand this to be sure I've got it right. 5th edition rules, I'm trying to make sure I've got this right.
So
Spoiler: 5e Alchemy runthroughStep 1: I'm casting Stunball
Step 2: I'd like to cast the stunball at force 4 because while I'm pretty awesome at resisting drain, I'd like it to stick around for a while and have a good potency and not risk going into the coming fight with a splitting headache.
Step 3: The lynchpin is an engraved credstick that will serve to lure the greedy to pick it up.
Step 4: The trigger is a Contact Trigger, upping the Drain Value by +1
Step 5: I spend 4 minutes prepping my sleep bomb. Not using reagents, I roll my Alchemy + Magic (6 and 6, with a +2 from my Focus) and try to beat an opposed roll of the force of the spell (4), scoring six successes vs 2 and therefore making my bomb potency 4 (net hits of 4). It will persist for 8 hours from its moment of creation, additional hits wouldn't count because the Force of the spell is acting as the limit anyway.
Step 6: Being a shaman I roll Charisma + Willpower against the force of the spell plus the trigger cost. 7 + 4 dice vs 4 dice, if I wind up with any net hits I don't take damage, if the spell gets net hits I take that much stun damage (because the force of the spell is below my magic rating).
Step 7 (AKA Payoff): A couple hours later, my target idiot picks up a credstick thinking it's his lucky day. The stunball being an area of effect, it blasts out to a radius of 4 meters because of its force, rolling 4 Potency in place of Spellcasting ability and 4 Force in place of Magic, with a limit of 4 (for the force) again. Since the idiot and his goons aren't expecting it, they don't get defense rolls, so all hits are net hits, but even if they did they'd be at a -2 penalty because it's AOE. The damage value is 4 (force) + the net hits. They get to roll their Willpower because it's a Mana spell to reduce the damage, they fail to score hits, and so they wind up taking (say) 6 stun damage and while not unconscious are rendered easier pickings for myself and my friends in the van with tazers.
Seems like a whole lot of iteration of a couple numbers. I'm trying to figure out where the optimal tradeoff is on force to get the highest probable potency + force with my available rolls. It seems like it's more tempting to ramp up the power on low-drain spells, but also that the roll against force to make it a triggered preparation makes it more risky to do so regardless of drain...
-
2015-04-15, 01:35 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2009
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
I have a problem and I was hoping the Playground has some insight. My party consists of 2 mages (Hermetic and Shaman), a Cyberdoc/Face, a Hacker, and a Rigger (me). The problem is that when the Hacker and I do our Matrix thing, the rest of the party feels sidelined (admittedly part of the problem is the GM throwing surprises at us, part is the party leaving in the middle of a run, and part is us not knowing the rules)*. Since I plan on having a lot of drones, I'm thinking of giving control of them to the ones not involved. Do you guys have any ideas on drones that would still be fun for them? Or any other advice on the situation in general?
Spoiler: *Run in QuestionSo the run was to get some paydata from a Renraku R&D facility. The Cyberdoc/Face, the Hermetic Mage, and I got invites to a party for rich investors at the location, the other two posed as tech support. The Face refuses to let us see his face (for all we know he's just the Johnson), and so we don't even know he's at the party. When the Hacker and I get set up, the Face decides to leave to establish an airtight alibi. The rest of the run consisted the Hermetic babysitting my unconscious body as I piloted a drone into the restricted area, and the Hacker trying to get us access to the network. I say trying because everytime the Hacker established an admin account, there was another even more secret network that we needed to hack. Happened at least 4 times. The entire run took about 8 hours over 2 sessions.See when a tree falls in the forest, and there's no one there to hear it, you can bet we've bought the vinyl.
-Snow White
Avatar by Chd
-
2015-04-15, 01:42 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2007
- Location
- San Antonio, Texas
- Gender
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
Giving the rest of your party control of drones/sprites while rigging and hacking is a great idea. The nested security levels, though... that sounds like a GM issue.
Generally, once you get past 2nd edition SR (IIRC, the last edition to deal with the idea of "Matrix locations as a dungeon to be explored"), and especially once you get to 4e's wireless, most hacking should require only a few checks, and no more game time than anyone else is getting.The Cranky Gamer
*It isn't realism, it's verisimilitude; the appearance of truth within the framework of the game.
*Picard management tip: Debate honestly. The goal is to arrive at the truth, not at your preconception.
*Mutant Dawn for Savage Worlds!
*The One Deck Engine: Gaming on a budget
Written by Me on DriveThru RPG
There are almost 400,000 threads on this site. If you need me to address a thread as a moderator, include a link.
-
2015-04-15, 02:45 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2009
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
Yeah, I plan on talking to him about that, and about my plot hook. My character is being targeted by a hacker group playing tricks on me, I'm gonna ask that they make themselves known to the party so I have an easier time getting them all involved in the plot rather than having a session turn into just me dealing with them. I guess I forgot the mention the is 4e. I plan on having at least a Doberman and a Fly-Spy, but I'm not sure the Fly-Spy would be much of an improvement.
See when a tree falls in the forest, and there's no one there to hear it, you can bet we've bought the vinyl.
-Snow White
Avatar by Chd
-
2015-04-16, 02:58 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2014
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
I kinda feel like the GM wanted to impress on you guys that "this network is really really secure, but really only succeeded in padding it out with excess depth that you guys could absolutely still crack...I don't subscribe to the network-as-dungeon theory, but one area that I do see the overlap is in the challenge construction. Either you let the players resolve it with a handful of checks, or you insert an actual ingenious security system that requires preparation and planning to breach...don't draw it out like this nonsense here.
-
2015-04-16, 04:47 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2009
- Location
- In my library
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
-
2015-04-16, 10:04 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2007
- Location
- San Antonio, Texas
- Gender
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
Keep in mind, I'm not talking about "Network as dungeon" as a theory... in 1e (and, IIRC, 2e), it was a fact. You had various nodes, and those nodes connected to other nodes. You could only get between nodes by traversing Node A to Node B to Node C, or by getting to the Core and teleporting to any node you liked.
If you played the any of the console Shadowrun games, or Shadowrun Returns, those very clearly have "Matrix as a dungeon" levels.The Cranky Gamer
*It isn't realism, it's verisimilitude; the appearance of truth within the framework of the game.
*Picard management tip: Debate honestly. The goal is to arrive at the truth, not at your preconception.
*Mutant Dawn for Savage Worlds!
*The One Deck Engine: Gaming on a budget
Written by Me on DriveThru RPG
There are almost 400,000 threads on this site. If you need me to address a thread as a moderator, include a link.
-
2015-04-16, 11:40 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2014
-
2015-04-16, 07:36 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2009
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
See when a tree falls in the forest, and there's no one there to hear it, you can bet we've bought the vinyl.
-Snow White
Avatar by Chd
-
2015-04-17, 03:21 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2007
- Location
- San Antonio, Texas
- Gender
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
The Cranky Gamer
*It isn't realism, it's verisimilitude; the appearance of truth within the framework of the game.
*Picard management tip: Debate honestly. The goal is to arrive at the truth, not at your preconception.
*Mutant Dawn for Savage Worlds!
*The One Deck Engine: Gaming on a budget
Written by Me on DriveThru RPG
There are almost 400,000 threads on this site. If you need me to address a thread as a moderator, include a link.
-
2015-04-18, 04:09 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2014
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
The most secure possible thing one can do with a network is to create an air gap - which is making a closed network without outside access. Not to mention it provides the other runners with a chance to contribute to the hack...it's the difference between sitting in a café watching the hacker hack, and inserting this hacker into enemy territory stealthily.
-
2015-04-19, 12:07 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2009
See when a tree falls in the forest, and there's no one there to hear it, you can bet we've bought the vinyl.
-Snow White
Avatar by Chd
-
2015-04-19, 08:01 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2008
- Location
- Orlando, FL
- Gender
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
One way of justifying it is have the Johnson pay the runners to steal a backup of the target's data. This entails breaking into whatever storage facility is holding the "tape back up" (flash drive in this case probably), searching for it within the database, then physically going to that location and grabbing it. Something for everyone to do!
-
2015-04-20, 04:10 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2011
- Location
- Sharangar's Revenge
- Gender
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
2E Question: Is Heavy Armor considered to be Hardened armor? So someone in Heavy Full Suit w/ a Helmet (9 Ballistic/7 Impact) is immune to any regular firearm with a power of 9 or lower? (Yes, some firearms use impact, or half-impact armor instead of ballistic. Pretend I'm ignoring those for this case).
Last edited by Lord Torath; 2015-04-20 at 04:14 PM.
Warhammer 40,000 Campaign Skirmish Game: Warpstrike
My Spelljammer stuff (including an orbit tracker), 2E AD&D spreadsheet, and Vault of the Drow maps are available in my Dropbox. Feel free to use or not use it as you see fit!
Thri-Kreen Ranger/Psionicist by me, based off of Rich's A Monster for Every Season
-
2015-04-20, 04:43 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2006
- Location
- England
- Gender
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
Tricky, neither 2nd or 3rd core book refers to it as such
The 'Cannon Companion' (p 51) refers to military grade armour which has roughly the same stats but is more expensive and needs to be suited to each individual wearer but is Hardened.
So I'd say unless the armour is proper, made for you, military grade stuff it isn't HardenedAll Comicshorse's posts come with the advisor : This is just my opinion any difficulties arising from implementing my ideas are your own problem
-
2015-04-21, 09:47 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2011
- Location
- Sharangar's Revenge
- Gender
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
Fields of Fire also has the Military Grade Armor (p54), which is explicitly Hardened. And you can ad Gel Packs (p53) to get Hardened Armor for other gear. So yeah, I think you're right. Only the Military or Gel-Pack armor counts.
So, what's the opinion on how far a Fashion spell will go toward concealing heavy or military armor?Warhammer 40,000 Campaign Skirmish Game: Warpstrike
My Spelljammer stuff (including an orbit tracker), 2E AD&D spreadsheet, and Vault of the Drow maps are available in my Dropbox. Feel free to use or not use it as you see fit!
Thri-Kreen Ranger/Psionicist by me, based off of Rich's A Monster for Every Season
-
2015-04-21, 10:25 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2006
- Location
- England
- Gender
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
Although the 2nd edition Grimoire says nothing on this 'Magic in the Shadows' says that the spell can only change armour with a total (ballistic and Impact) armour rating equal to the Force of the Spell (+1 per two successes gained)
This does seem a little harsh so I'd suggest maybe applying this rule but taking the highest of the Ballistic or Impact rating which would make it possible to Fashion military armour but damn hard but still allow your mage to Fashion more conventional armour with relative easeLast edited by comicshorse; 2015-04-21 at 12:33 PM.
All Comicshorse's posts come with the advisor : This is just my opinion any difficulties arising from implementing my ideas are your own problem
-
2015-04-21, 01:25 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2011
- Location
- Sharangar's Revenge
- Gender
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
I like that limitation (the maximum armor rating, not the total of ballistic and impact). You could also allow Fashion to alter the color/markings of any armor that's above its Force rating, but not otherwise affect it.
The target for Fashion is only 4, so successes won't be too hard to come by. Force 4 Fashion will typically get 2 successes by itself, plus another 3 or so from your magic pool, so you can modify Heavy Armor. A Karma Pool Reroll will get you another 2-3 successes, getting you up to 11-12, which lets you play with Light or Medium Millitary armor. Oh, wait. It's +1 armor for every two successes. Okay, so that reliably lets you modify Armor 6, maybe 9 with the Karma re-roll. Okay, that's a bit better.
Drain is F/2+2 Moderate, so with a Willpower of 6, you're likely looking at a light stun (3 successes lowers the drain to Light). Twenty minutes of rest will (most likely) eliminate that. And since it's a permanent spell, you can do it ahead of time so drain usually won't be too much of an issue.Last edited by Lord Torath; 2015-04-21 at 01:41 PM.
Warhammer 40,000 Campaign Skirmish Game: Warpstrike
My Spelljammer stuff (including an orbit tracker), 2E AD&D spreadsheet, and Vault of the Drow maps are available in my Dropbox. Feel free to use or not use it as you see fit!
Thri-Kreen Ranger/Psionicist by me, based off of Rich's A Monster for Every Season
-
2015-04-23, 11:59 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2007
- Location
- Lemuria
- Gender
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
So, for a game I'm GMing the party is up against toxics, and while so far they've been up against a lot of summoners, that just hasn't been working out, because we have ONE mage. Everyone else hasn't had much to do, and I've had to dumb down a few encounters to prevent things from going topsy turvy.
Anyway, I was thinking of throwing some mystic adepts at them. Idea being sorta avatar style martial artists who happen to throw radioactive fireballs as part of their martial arts.
Only I know next to nothing about Adepts and how to make one a decent challenge. Any tips?
-
2015-04-23, 12:37 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2007
- Location
- San Antonio, Texas
- Gender
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
Basically, such mystic adepts are going to be about specialization. I would have them be mostly mages, with a sort of low force cap on spells... but with something else in the form of Adept Abilties.
So, you might have the Wind adept have 2 power points tied up in stealth abilities, but 4 points in spellcasting. The Earth Adept might have loaded up on mystic armor, and only have a bit of spellcasting.
I'd look at them and say "What piece of cyberware do I REALLY want them to have" then make that into an adept power.The Cranky Gamer
*It isn't realism, it's verisimilitude; the appearance of truth within the framework of the game.
*Picard management tip: Debate honestly. The goal is to arrive at the truth, not at your preconception.
*Mutant Dawn for Savage Worlds!
*The One Deck Engine: Gaming on a budget
Written by Me on DriveThru RPG
There are almost 400,000 threads on this site. If you need me to address a thread as a moderator, include a link.
-
2015-04-24, 05:57 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2013
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
We are talking SR4E/A right?
In which case the issue with mystic adepts is that they demand a huge investment for subpar rewards, having to split up their magic score between adept powers and spells, meaning they get a pretty low score for either/both.
That issue does not exist with NPCs, you can raise their magic stat higher than it should be, or whip out something like "they got these powers from toxic spirits" and that they don't follow normal rules.
It also gives you flexibility, have the guy with low-ish magic for spells fight the mundane, and the one who still got most of his magic for spellcasting fight the mage.
As far as shooting fireballs avatar-style, the spell for radioactive fire exists in the SOX supplement, so their martial moves may only be fluff, something you narrate but has no existence rules-wise (besides a high-ish unarmed combat score maybe?) as they cast their spells. Or, if you want to go the adept route, you can combine killing hands+elemental strike+distance strike, for a total of 3PP, houseroule the element damage to be radioactive fire, and you're good to go. They don't hit very hard though, so you might want to add critical strike, and to leave enough points to leave enhanced reflexes on a sustained focus.Last edited by Alberic Strein; 2015-04-24 at 05:59 AM.
I'm here to kick ass and call you names... And I'm not very witty.
-
2015-04-25, 06:08 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2007
- Location
- Lemuria
- Gender
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
-
2015-04-25, 08:04 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2013
Re: General Shadowrun Questions
Well, you are in luck since that, compared to your players, you have a lot less to care about, no long term evolution, no usefulness to the group in a typical shadowrun, you can really go crazy with your guys.
As for building them proper, it strongly depends on the optimization level of your group. An adept with Warrior's Way, 6 in magic (2.5pp enhanced reflexes 2 ; 0.5pp killing hands ; 2pp distance strike ; 0.5pp elemental strike ; 0.5pp critical strike 2), unarmed at 6, B:3 A:4 R:4(6) S:5 C:2 I:4 L:2 W:4 is looking at a 10 dicepool and 7p damage resisted with (half impact armor)+body 3 times a turn, with an initiative of 10. Is that ridiculously weak compared to your players? If so, you can add a single point in martial arts, get Kung-fu, add +1DV to unarmed attacks, get the finishing blow maneuver (attacking a second time before the enemy can is good) add the martial arts:kung-fu specialization for unarmed combat and it's now an 8P with a 12 dicepool. And so on.
Basically do what Mark hall said, have them specialize in one thing. If their role in the story is kicking flames into your players' faces, then raise their fighting stats as high as possible, then perception, gymnastics (for those classy dodges), sneaking and athletics skills and you've pretty much got your ninjas.
Also, I'm definitely not an optimizer, or at least not a decent one, so you may want to get someone else's opinion.I'm here to kick ass and call you names... And I'm not very witty.