This thread is for posting out of character (OOC) comments regarding the SDMB Shadowrun campaign titled “New World Orders.” It’s also where spectators can discuss the campaign, or express interest in being added to the list of alternates.
Happy Running!
So, are players allowed in here?
I don’t see why we wouldn’t be.
No!* Get back in the basement!
*yes
If the underlined Mr. is in reference to my opening intro post with the Mrs. Johnson, that occurs before our current Johnson meeting. The person I was talking to in my condominium is not the same person we’re talking to now. And I highly doubt we’d be having this meeting anywhere private. We don’t know anything about this Johnson and public places allow for easy escapes if this is a blatant setup. (McManus just hooked us up with him, he hasn’t vouched that this guy is on the level. And while McManus would never sell us out as such, he’s not loyal enough that he won’t hook us up with less-than ideal runs if his commission out of it is good enough.)
Also, is our technomancer with us in this meeting? Or is she jacked in? Frequently it’s good to have the technomancer, if she has the tech for it, monitoring the vitals of the Johnson (e.g. increased heart rate can indicate a lie or at least something the Johnson is uncomfortable about) and actively researching the Johnson’s background during the meetings, and letting us know over commlink anything particularly noteworthy.
McManus? A Usual Suspects reference. Also, curse you, Mosier, for making me buy Shadowrun books on Amazon just for this game! :mad:
Yep. I figured it sounded like a good name for a fixer. You know, someone with resources and contacts, but you probably don’t want to trust him with the keys to your house.
Mahaloth, is it safe to assume that unless you mention otherwise the information you get will be shared with the rest of the party?
Because I don’t think we need to roleplay out your regurgitation of what Mosier posted was the results of your spell.
Anything you don’t want us knowing, just indicate as such. I think we’re all good enough gamers here not to meta-game it.
Yes, I’ll share.
Ominokami:
What are drones? I see that Kirsikka mentioned not wanting to lose them. What are they? Machines or something? If so, my character may be interested in helping with them.
As a technomancer, Kirk can take direct control of machines. If the machines belong to her, no test is needed. If they belong to someone else, she must “hack” their signal. Technomancers are typically frail and weak in the “meatspace” world of reality, but in the cyberspace Matrix, they are legendary. Kirk starts the game with several drones (machines) useful for spying, fighting, and transportation.
Drones are machines. In previous versions when riggers (machine interfacers) and deckers (matrix interfacers) were separate archetypes (as opposed to the more general technomancer that 4th ed seems to use), riggers used them as their remote link to the world. Essentially they acted as the rigger’s senses, and typically had armor and weaponry and other tech added in. I’m guessing they haven’t changed much in 4th, though I haven’t looked through that part of the 4th ed rulebook yet.
So yeah, whereas someone like my character uses his direct senses and weapons in combat, our technomancer uses his drones. Nice thing about drones, they’re not alive. However, based on the stereotypical rigger/technomancer, you never want to tell them that if you don’t want to find yourself suddenly abandoned by the drones you thought were backing you up.
That is mostly true. The decker/rigger archetypes have been merged into what can best be described as a “hacker”. Hackers use a device (like a cyberdeck) to access the Matrix and control their drones.
Technomancers take that concept, and dial it up to 11. They have a Resonance stat that works very similar to the Magic stat, and some argue that technomancy literally IS a type of magic. Technomancers do not need (or want) cybernetics or devices to access the Matrix or control their drones - they do it through sheer force of will. They can “feel” the signal, and their psyche is linked closely to it. In places where the signal is weak, or “dead zones” where there’s no signal at all, a Technomancer will feel disassociated, depressed, isolated, and unnerved. These are creepy places that might be compared to the feeling a regular person would get walking through a graveyard, or imprisoned in a dungeon.
Ah, I’m sorry. That wasn’t clear to me.
Soooo, the corporate agent dude, not Donovan, is the zombie, right?
Also, are all Adepts registered as Adepts? How does everyone know somebody is an adept right off the bat?
Hoopy Frood mentioned jacking in, and while I probably should’ve made this clearer in her opening post, one of the reasons Kirk has such weird physical affectations is because of this- even though she carries a commlink and some classic hacker tech she doesn’t actually need any of it, and she has a habit of twitching or falling corpse-still even when she isn’t directing her attention to the matrix as a way of making it hard to tell what she’s doing. Technomancers are (at least to the best of my knowledge) less common than hackers who use rigs or implants, and one way she helps keep this secret is by trying to make it extremely difficult to explicitly tell when she is and isn’t accessing the matrix.
I think the other characters are poking fun at the Seneth character, for wearing black and calling himself “master.” That’s why they’re referring to him as the zombie.
The only known Adepts so far are you, and Chaggo the renegade ork, the assassination target. You’re known because you said as much in your intro. Chaggo is known because Seneth used Mind Probe to get that information from the Synthcorp representative. Adepts are not necessarily recognizable, unless they show off their power doing something extraordinary in combat.
ETA: On second glance, I’m not sure what Goethe was referring to when he said “zombie.” Hoopy Frood, care to clarify?
I presumed that “zombie” was another way of referring to the company man giving them the info?
Except to astral perception. It should be trivial for any magician (or adept with the Astral Perception power) to use assensing to determine that the adept is Awakened, and not much harder to tell that they’re an adept. The same goes for spirits, at least relatively high force ones. Astrally perceiving entities can spot weapon foci, too.
You presume correctly.
It’s an epithet for a wage-slave. You know, mindless; unable to think for himself; a slave to his goal above anything else. (I.e. a traditional zombie craves brains/human flesh and will stop at nothing to get it. A corp zombie craves impressing his superiors above all else and will stop at nothing to get it.)
That post I pulled today is because I posted something that I need to wait to post about the meeting with my source. Mosier had me pull it and i was in the time of the editing window, so I did.