bookwyrm

Quote (malek77 @ Dec. 30 2003,08:36)

Anyone remember HOME TAPING IS KILLING THE RECORDING INDUSTRY? Unhhh...yeah. Right.

Heh, I've got a Dead Kennedys tape (In God We Trust,Inc, I think) somewhere that is only recorded on one side.  On the other it has the message

 

HOME TAPING IS KILLING RECORD INDUSTRY PROFITS.  WE LEFT THIS SIDE BLANK FOR YOU TO HELP

 

Oh, I've no problem with non-prof rolls or attempting to do anything with or without the necessary skill (you might not suceed but you can attempt it).  I just got sick of seeing every solo with Combat Sense/Handgun/Duck Fu +10 and no Grooming ("You do realise that everyone is getting out of you're way not because you're a baddass but because you smell like a bad...ass?"); or techies with Weaponsmith +10 ("Hey, it says here I can design weapons!  What I want is..." "You have no technical drawing skills, can't use CADCAM programs, you have no education so you can't read or do algebra...how are you planning to design this weapon?")

Except this isn't twinktastic Shadowrun -

Quote

But this "bonus"damge could only fill in the max potentiol for that caliber.

Deadboy can hunt all he whats, he's still only going to do 6 points of damage.  I kinda like the idea myself.

Don't you remember the Lion King 'SEX' scandal?

Ivan stumbles in the direction the kid is pulling him, leaning on her (for balance rather than support) and dripping blood everywhere.

I have had a character who did this (and you were in the same game as him, Snowy) - Rat in the Monsterpunk game on this forum.

But then 'man does not live by bread alone'.  Also, aside from the entertainment value (which shouldn't be discounted - humans are a game-playing species), it allows you to fulfil the basic human need to reach out and touch someone, not to mention allowing you to satisfy your innate curiosity by experiencing new things.

 

Hey, Wilphe, does this count as better BS?

Happy birthday, Chrys.  Hope the scrote that stole from you dies the death of a thousand paper cuts!

I don't download stuff because I have a dialup connection and I have better things to do than sit around for 20 minutes waiting for one song.  On the other hand, I do copy my cds.  I'm sick of lending cd's out and not getting them back, so this way I can still share the music that I like and also try new stuff from other people.  A lot of what I listen to isn't played on the radio, or on the music channels so where else am I going to hear new stuff?

I'd say he was the other way around.  I stopped reading the Trilogy because he spent far too much time describing things (especially scenery) and not enough time moving the story on.

Quote (Joe Q. Public @ Dec. 27 2003,20:10)

If you let other skills (say firearms) allow you to become prof. in related skills (I believe the example was Weaponsmith) you will give PCs little incentive to do things at an unskilled check to raise non-developed skills. This would be a bastrdiztion of the Interlock system (kinda takes the Edge out of it).

I've run this the other way around with some sucess - I penalise people who don't have the related skills.  This works especially well with life skills.  No Wardrobe & Style - you're a social pariah; no Education - you're illiterate (and possibly innumerate(?) as well).

BTW, Crazy Ivan is the answer to the question - What sort of clueless f*cking idiot would be stupid enough to have a torso plate?

Billy Wright, Age 34 (b.1986)

 

Appearance

 

Billy is tall (6'3") and rangy.  Sandy blonde hair sets off his green eyes and his easy grace has set more than one woman's heart racing.  A light stubble only adds to his rugged looks.  Dressed in worn camo fatigues with a long rifle slung across his back and a survival knife on his hip, he sits astride a trail bike modified with extra fuel tanks, his camping equipment neatly and securely stored in various places around the bike.

 

Int  7

Ref  9

Tech 6

Cool (7)6

Attr 7

Luck 5

MA   7

Bod  6

Emp  6

 

Skills (69 pts)

 

Int Based

Wilderness Survival 6

Navigation 5

Expert: US Geography 3

Awareness/Notice 8

Education 2

 

Ref Based

Motorbike 6

Rifle 8

Pistol 6

Stealth 4

Boxing 2

Athletics 2

 

Tech Based

Basic Tech 4

Weaponsmith 3

First Aid 4

 

Attr Based

Wardrobe & Grooming 2

 

Bod Based

Endurance 2

Swimming 2

 

Equipment

 

Extended range trail bike

(SDP 20; top spd 84mph; rng 800mi; handle +2; wgt 40kg)

Steyr SSG 69 rifle (7.62Nato cased)

RIF*+3*N*R*6D6+2(7.62mmNatoC)*5/10*1*VR*1000m

Steyr GB pistol (9mm cased)

P*+1*J*P*2D6+1(9mmC)*18*2*VR*50m

Army Surplus sleeping bag

First aid kit

Survival knife

camping/hunting equipment

military radio

general bits & bats

emergency survival kit (in subdermal pocket)

 

Cyber

2x eyes w/

teleoptics

lowlite

anti-dazzle

taget scope

 

ears w/

enhanced hearing

extended hearing

wide band scanner

level damper

radio link

tight band radio link

 

synthskin w/camo chips

olfractory boost

neural ware

smartgun link

subdermal pocket

 

History

 

Billy's parents were farmers in the mid-west, and despite a shortage of money, his early childhood could easily be considered idyllic.  All this was to come to an end when he was eight.  The farm had been doing poorly for some years with his parents living increasingly on credit when, in 1994, the US economy collapsed and the banks foreclosed on all their loans.  Like so many othe families, they were forced to seek food and shelter in a federal internment camp.  They managed to put up with the overcrowding and inadequate sanitation with the consequent diseases for over a year, hoping things would get better.  It was only with the death of his younger brother, Bobby, to cholera that forced them into the realisation that if anything was to change they would have to do it themselves.

 

They weren't the only ones hitting the roads again.  This was the rise of the nomad clans, and the Wrights quickly joined up with the Blackwater Clan, who were travelling to provide temporary agricultural labour on the west coast.  Billy was glad to get away and put as much distance between himself and the camp as possible.  They spent the next year travelling up and down the west coast looking for work and Billy settled into the nomadic lifestyle easily despite losing both parents in the rioting that preceded the declaration of marshal law in 1996.

 

By the time he was 18 Billy was acting as a scout for the clan and was becoming firm friends with one of the senior scouts called Jenna.  She eventually took it upon herself to teach Billy the finer points of navigation and helped him to become a trailblazer for the clan on his 20th birthday.  As trailblazer he ws responsible for finding routes and campsites and he enjoyed the freedom and solitude that came with this.

 

It was a few years later that it would all start to go wrong.  Billy was with a small clan contingent which rolled into a town one day looking for some supplies.  The chief of police, sensing a chance to extort some 'retirement' money arrested and locked us up until the clan could pay the 'fines' it owed.  Unfortunately, it took some time for the clan to get enough money together while the incarcerated members of the clan were holed up in a crowded and unsanitary communal jail (ie no individual cells).  Predictably, Billy did not react well to this, bringing up unpleasant memories of his childhood.  He managed to last for two whole weeks before he snapped and forced a breakout.  It was probably the surprise of it more than anything that allowed it to work (seeing as the clan were close to being able to pay by now), but work it did and his tracking and wilderness skills allowed them to evade capture.  However, Billy was never the same again [mental breakdown -1 COOL] and started to withdraw from clan life.  To this day he has phobias about crowds and enclosed spaces.

 

Billy spent more and more time apart until it was natural for him to part company with the Blackwater clan.  Jenna took this badly, feeling that he'd abandoned his responsibilities.

 

Over the next couple of years, Billy alternated between retreating into the wilderness he loved so much and finding and marking back trails for smugglers.  This was lucrative work and allowed him to acquire most of his current cyber and equipment as well as amassing a respectable bank balance in the process.  The crackdown on smugglers was inevitable, and after a few close calls he decided to retire rather than risk another spell in jail, although the fixers he used to work for took this badly and trashed his reputation.

 

Deciding to stick to more legitimate work, Billy started to run protection for convoys and his bank balance continued to grow, albeit at a much slower pace.  Last year, on one of his extended excursions into the wilds, he happened to learn that an area of the mountains that he visited a lot was available for sale.  One empty bank account later and he had a permanent retreat.  He's only come out of retirement in order to get enough money to buy a patch of land abutting his.

Name: Patrick Dooley

Handle: Crazy Ivan

Role: Streetpunk (Nomad)

 

Description

Standing over 6'6" tall (he's 6'10") and heavily muscled, Ivan presents an almost stereotypical image of an urban predator.  The dull steel of his Russian manufactured cyberarm does not look out of place, it's normally excessive bulk more than matched by the flesh & blood arm on the other side.  Looking closer, your not sure if the 'real' arm isn't the larger of the two.  If it weren't for his suit, you'd be able to see the prominent Russian Bear tattoo on his biceps that matches the SovTech logo on the other arm.

 

His torso is equally massive, due in part to the armour plating embedded under his skin.  Despite the severe restriction on movement it imposes he is still able to move surprisingly quickly.  Looking past his threatening bulk reveals a face scarred by fighting, his nose is crooked from being broken too many times, but it has been considered quite attractive in the past.  His head is still shaved from prison, but it only adds to his brooding presence.

His whole look is made somewhat comical by the cheap brown suit he wears, two sizes too small and straining at the seams.  This is made more ridiculous by the way he keeps it buttoned up in an attempt to look smart.

 

History

His background is typical working class poor, mostly spent kicking about on the streets.  Of course, being the bruiser he is, a career in gangs beckoned.  He picked up some cyberware, some good friends and a reputation as a mean streetfighter.  He's had all the usual experiences you would expect, and done time for minor offences (Assault, Intent to Riot, Vandalism, etc).  He also picked up the idea that he could play bass guitar (not, however, the skill).

 

Unfortunately, he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and has a tendency to be taken advantage of.  The classic case of this is his cyberarm.  He saved hard for 2 years and finally had enough to get himself a top of the range, fancy-ass cyberarm.  What he walked out with was an ex-Red Army second that was out of date when it was new.  On the plus side, it's tough, easy to fix (useful since it breaks down so often), and it's big and intimidating.  Also, having to repair and maintain it so intensively has made him something of a local expert on it.  (It was this that started him affecting a Russian accent, and the name Crazy Ivan wasn?t far behind.)

 

Currently, he's just out of prison in Texas after serving 2 years for Assault with Deadly Intent.  The hard labour has toned his body and the routine has made him hungry for excitement.  His old gang (Steel Fist) is still there but all the old faces are gone, and the gang has moved away from combat towards drug dealing.  Although he is only 26 he increasingly feels like a dinosaur, a relic from a bygone age.  There are a few in the gang who remember what it was all about, but it's not enough.  He's looking for something new to fill his life, and if it involves beating people up, so much the better.

 

Family

Both parents are alive, somewhere.  He doesn't really care since he hasn't had anything in common with them for years.

 

2 sisters:

Madeleine (Maddy for short), age 21.  Hero worships me.  She's a gang chick (West street Slicks) herself but I'm persona non grata with them.  

 

Tania, age 35. Hates me with a vengeance.  She thinks I've wasted my life and am corrupting Maddy to boot.  Has a menial job in a factory, a husband and two girls (twins) of her own who all hate me as well (I can never remember their names, which doesn't help, so I refer to him as Bob and both girls as Spunky).

Despite this I am currently crashing at her place since I?m family and have nowhere else to go (Parents won't have me, Maddy can't have me and I have no money to get even a fleapit room).

 

 

Stats (60pts)

Int:  4

Ref:  7 (10)

Tech:  5

Cool:  9

Attr:  5

Luck:  7

MA:  6 Run: 18 Leap: 4.5

Bod:  11 (9) BTM: -5 Save: 9 H2H Damage bonus: +4

Emp:  5 (6)

Humanity:  46.5 (60)

 

Head 0 SP

Torso 25 SP

R. Arm 0 SP

L. Arm 0 SP

R. Leg 0 SP

L. Leg 0 SP

 

Equipment

Cyberware

Muscle & Bone Lace - +2 Bod

Torso Plate - SP 25 (Torso), -3 Ref

SovTech CyberSystems Cyberarm w/2 option spaces

(Soviet cyberware - Reliability:UR)

- Hydraulic Rams

- SDP 30 (disable)/ 40 (destroy)

- Damage 1D6 (punch)/ 6D6 (crush)

 

Skills

Special Abilities

Combat Rage +4

Gang Rank +1 (4)

Int Based

Awareness/Notice +4

Education/General Knowledge +1

Expert: Human Biology +3

Expert: Pharmaceuticals +2

Expert: Russian Cyberware +5

Language: English +8

Language: Russian +4

Language: Streetslang +8

Ref Based

Brawling +6

Handgun +2

Tech Based

Basic Tech +2

Cybertech +4

First Aid +3

Play Instrument: Bass Guitar +0

Cool Based

Intimidate +4

Resist Torture/Drugs +3

Streetwise +2

Attr Based

Personal Grooming +2

Bod Based

Endurance +3

Strength Feat +4

Emp Based

Leadership +2

Seduction +3

 

Notes on Skills

Combat Rage Adds to initiative as Combat Sense, adds at half value to combat rolls such as Stun (but not death saves), melee and Hand-to- hand attacks, and BOD (for skill rolls and melee damage).

Subtracts from Awareness at 1:1.

May not use any skills other than those directly related to breaking things or people whilst raging.

Limitations:

He has to Psyche himself up for this (eg: Using his mantra), so its no good in an ambush (unless he gets REAL mad).

Physically exhausted afterwards.

Gang rank has two ratings.  The first represents his standing in his gang, the second (in parentheses) represents his knowledge of gangs (names, turfs, tags, etc.).  Well, he has been around for a while.

His knowledge of technical medicine (i.e. not first aid) and cyberware comes from body building/weight training and having to maintain his cyberarm (he reads a lot of cyberware technical manuals).

Education +1 means he can read, write and do basic algebra (not quite as stupid as he looks).

Russian +4 - he reads Russian much better than he speaks it (he reads a lot of Russian technical journals)

Play Instrument - yes, he really has a skill of 0 in this.  He's under the impression that he can actually play, but on a good day he knows as many as one chord!  Since he only ever plays punk songs, no-one's noticed yet (although this might also have something to do with not wanting a guitar wrapped round their neck.)

Personal grooming is mainly used for keeping his 'arm clean.

Seduction is just cos he's a babe magnet!

 

Other Equipment

1 Brown suit (2 sizes too small)

Quote (<--Neo_BeN--> @ Dec. 26 2003,03:36)

mechs based on current tech would have one large weakness that i can see, emp. if there was a weapon used that would kill all robotics in the area, the mechs wold be dead in the water while a soldier in a tech suit could get out and carry on killing.

I think the one large weakness mechs actually have is reality laughing in their face.

Equally, however, it was fairly well established at the Nuremberg trials that 'only following orders' was not an adequate defence.  I feel sorry for the poor squaddies caught in the middle.

Happy Nondenominational-Holiday-of-your-Choice.

And lets not forget Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Have you been getting ideas watching Pirates of the Carribean?

Quote (markc @ Dec. 21 2003,03:42)

Quote How about just shooting this debate on the neck and be done with it? It's not like anyone ever changed their opinion on gun control based on arguments like this one. Well, I've seen those positions change, but I agree that it seems unlikely it'll happen to anyone in this forum, based on the arguments presented so far. Although I'm unlikely to ever change my position, I have gained a lot of respect for those on the other side of the debate (something that tends to get lost in the hyperbole and slogans).  Surely the fact that we all feel strongly on this means that we should debate it if only to gain an understanding of those on the opposing side.

Quote (Archangel @ Dec. 22 2003,15:59)

The real obstacles to the advancement of humanity are anarchy, apathy, bigotry, colonialism, nationalism, nihilism, and sheer human greed.

You mean christmas?

 

A flippant comment - how RARE!

Quote (Bunnycakes @ Dec. 22 2003,10:02)

and the world will have no choice but to worship the ground you walk on.

That's a bit redundant - we already worship the ground you walk on.

Inspired Mosca, truly inspired!

Quote (Mosca Syndrome @ Dec. 22 2003,04:41)

Please tell me nobody was taking that seriously...I mean, dual .25 automatics in earmuff holsters?

Are these supplied by Turnbull & Son by any chance?

Ivan gives another big belly laugh and stumbles slightly as he walks off (in the wrong direction).  He doesn't appear to be 'all there' (wait, let me rephrase that...).