You are hereForums / Other Gaming / Roleplaying Games / Shadowrun in the CZ
Shadowrun in the CZ
Just a spot for the players(Joe, Eric, Jal, Alex?) in an upcoming Shadowrun game to post their characters and/or a short writeup about those characters.
The majority of the game will be taking place in Chicago, midwinter, 2073.
Chicago at this point is starting to recover very slowly from being overrun with bug spirits and sealed off from the rest of the U.C.A.S. Their is little to no government to speak of, no official police force, and for the most part your average citizen is just trying to keep from going hungry or freezing to death. Access to electricity, clean water, food, and shelter is limited.
With most of the remaining bug spirits in torpor the largest problem facing reconstruction is the lack of order in the city. Warlords run the three 'Sides, West, North, and South, all bordering The Zone, what was once downtown Chicago. The Zone, and some portions of the 'Sides are in ruins, blown out skyscrapers, abandoned cars, and rubble choking the streets. Not to mention the giant crater in the center of The Zone, still radioactive, and still attracting insect shamans trying to interact with the huge amount of spirits that lie within it. The CZ has an effect on magic as well. For some reason its seem to drain the power of any mage or shaman that comes near it, lessening their abilities, and even corrupting them as the Insect Queen still rumored to be in the city whispers in their ear. And then their are the ghouls, wendigos, cannibals, general crazies, and Human First thugs out to make life hell for any Elf, Ork, Troll, Dwarf, or metavariant they come into contact with...
The major highways running through the 'Sides are kept relatively clear of debris, acting as conduits for the goods entering and leaving the city. The problem is that the mob controls most of that traffic and the go gangs that claim territory on the highways are usually on their payroll as well. Drug labs and BTL factories are popping up in abandoned warehouses and corp facilities. Its also rumored that some of the Corps have come back into the city under the radar and are now operating R&D facilities with even less supervision than before.
So whats attractive about the place? Not as many prying eyes. The intrusive monitoring of public and private spaces that happens in a city like Seattle or Hong Kong is not present. The Matrix 2.0 is largely nonexistent in The Zone, and its spotty at best in the 'Sides. Its easier to get around with a fake SIN, or no SIN at all because of this. Most of the trade that goes on, at least with the small players, is based on barter as well. It could be easier to trade a can of food for an extra clip or two for your Ingram Smartgun than it would to pay straight Nuyen in some places. Technical skills and the spare parts needed to put them to use are always in demand.
A large relief effort has yet to start as most of the Chicago Metroplex is still considered a hot zone. Food, potable water, and medical supplies are scarce and most of the conflicts between the metahumans living in Chicago come about because of these three things. The rest of the conflicts are about control of the different areas of the city and the illicit goods that travel through it. Add to that the challenge of staying alive in a feral city(Bugs, Cannibals, and Demon Rats, oh my!) and you should be getting an idea about what life is like in Chicago at this time.
With all that danger comes a chance to make some money and gain some contacts in the shadows. Their are plenty of factions that could use a skilled group of runners to do their work, dirty or otherwise.
When making your characters keep in the mind the challenges that such a place would pose. Their is a lack of clear travel lanes through the city, the well maintained ones are under the control of the gangs or the people they work for. Smuggler routes exist, but they are usually made for smaller, more maneuverable 4x4's or motorcycles. If someone wanted to take VTOL piloting we could probably work something out where the PC's had access to one. Snow is another issue given that the game is taking place in the winter. Some types of vehicles will fair better than others, and with most of the surface streets being unmaintained problems could arise.
Besides that, please talk to each other, figure out what everyone wants to play and give me something to look at.
Any changes in the 20th Anniversary edition are fine to use, also any sourcebook should be cool as well. I'll set up a new blogspot page, probaby after our first session, just to get a list of contacts and npc's up there.
Having a character that's invested in the CZ in some way is the way to go imo. Hopefully, with all the different factions hanging around you guys can get some do-it-yourself runs in as opposed to waiting for some greasy Johnson to call all the time.
I just want to say that my character's bio is coming. He had been made and looks totally sweet inmy opinion. But just a quick FYI. Due to the rigors of family life, and the dam religion I don't even practice, Easter dinner falls on Sunday night for me. So I won't be able to attend. I would try to convience you to stall for another week. But thats just rude. If you do, id love you forever, but if you don't, I hope my character can jump right in next week. So I'll have my bio up soon...I hope. Oh and also, Kas is thinking about joining. I'm not sure if that offer still stands but I asked him and he is thinking about it. Just so you know.
Its taken me way to long to write this already so I'm putting up a cliff notes version.
Gabriel, started out as far back as he can remember living with an old medicine man outside of CZ apprenticing under him, running errands and getting an all around education. Gabe was trapped in the zone when the barrier went up while trying to deliver a powerful spear crafted by his master to a guy on the outskirts who was trying to fight the bugs but apparently lost because he never showed up. So trapped in the zone Gabriel scavenged to survive, he fell in with one of the city’s gangs for protection and excelled due to his size and athleticism but left the gang soon after the barrier went down accusing the gang for its small time ambitions and said he was “going pro”. Gabriel started an unsuccessful solo running carrier using his experience in the zone to bill himself as a area specialist, mostly he ended up paying the bills running protection for caravans coming in and out of the area. Now he sees becoming part of a serious team as a way to step up his game once again.
Join usssssss....
(I'm not a cultist I swear, nevermind this robe and pitcher of kool-aid)
This Sunday we will probably just get characters set, finalize contacts, and try out some combat/stuff for anyone who hasn't played the system before. If Kassidy wants to join up as well thats cool, Sunday would be a good time to get a character made. Just toss me a pm or post on here sometime during the week Alex with your characters contacts so I can work them into the game. Like the ideas so far. We should have two copies of the setting book floating around to, so if anyone has questions about Chicago, The Zone, its players etc. hopefully they can be answered on Sunday.
Are we going to post on the ShadowrunRD google group as well? I'll cross post there as well once we nail down characters and such. I suppose here is better for the moment.
Also are we going to be using the rules in the new SR4A PDF? I suppose the changes are going to become official errata (despite the fact that they are not listed in the errata section yet). Most of the changes are subtle, but some are kind of a big deal. Mages got slapped around a bit (probably for the best), rolled successes add to the drain of direct and illusion spells. So if you rolled 4 successes for your spell, you would add 4 to the drain code. Nasty. Skillsofts were increased in price by 5 times. Also some (really good) adept powers were drastically reduced in price. Among other changes.
I assume we will be using all of the official source books, but I figure that call is up to Vollinger.
Before hearing about the setting I whipped up 'Arc Light' the human drone rigger / part time hacker. He got into Shadowrunning because his Dad, a robotics engineer at Ares, went missing and he didn't buy the official line that he was killed during a B&E at his lab. After the incident he joined a rigger gang in Seattle known as the "120's" and over time built up the nerve and contacts to find out what really happened to his father and broke up his immediate family. When he finally thought that he had a solid clue it was snatched out from under him (and it appears that it was swept under the carpet by his fathers former employers), all he knows is that the fragment for a clue that he has left points to the Chicago area. He loaded up his Van with his trusty drones, checked his HK-226 sub machine gun, ran a quick diagnostic on his headware, and started out east to the jarring tones of Orc Rock.
Arc Light, typically shortened to Ark, is a one man tech department. If it blinks, whirls, or beeps he can fix it, use it, hack it, or disable it. In addition, so long as it doesn't swim he can pilot it (even then for a few cred he could 'learn'). His skill wires allows him to fill a few nitch roles in a pinch (assuming we don't use the SR4A rules, then skillsofts are simply too expensive). He can shoot better than average, but isn't really equipped for a knock down, drag out fight. His time as a Ganger shows, despite being well made and maintained all of his equipment has a punk almost Mad Max look to it. The gang he was in was a bit of a technocracy, skill alone determined your place in the gang, so he is more likely to respect people who display skill than those that muscle through something. He loves the reality shows "Drone Racers!" and "Urban Combat".
I'm also considering a few other characters that are a little more self sufficient and might work out better in the CZ.
An ex-merc Orc known as "Reload", after a few black ops campaigns in south America found himself knowing a little too much about his employers interests in the area. With the help of a wiz rigger he was able to cut out before he could be deniably disposed of. He decided that the Chicago area was a prefect place to lay low and make a few cred at the same time. His jungle survival skills and knowledge of tactics translate very well, and everybody can put a smart Orc with a steady hand to good use.
Reload has seen enough action in hot zones to know how to stay alive. He is a master of staying unseen, avoiding confrontation, and shooting first when the need arises. He is also teched out for a career of cybernetic violence. Reload is trying to beat the odds on survival and he is doing a pretty good job so far. When things get hairy you want Reload on your side. (Somewhere between the streetsam and the bounty hunter example characters.)
Another idea I had was Patch a medic local to the CZ. He operates a small part time black clinic just inside the CZ. If people need patching up with no questions asked he charges the going rate. For the general citizens of the CZ he tries his best to provide basic care for free. He has patched up enough of the local gang members and the local Warlords men that he generally gets around without bloodshed. Patch hires himself out as support for local Shadowrunners in order to keep the clinic going and to keep the care for his poorer patients free. He has a pretty good stable of contacts particularly with the Smugglers trying to get medicine and food into the city.
Patch was a MIT&M grad student who got caught in the CZ. He did his best to help out in the shit storm that followed. Eventually the CZ, rather than Chicago, became his home and he couldn't imagine living anywhere else. As long as the CZ stays a hell hole he can't abandon the people who are forced to live there. Patch is handy with a gun, he spent some time in an impromptu militia as a combat medic before it was dissolved when the warlords finally gained a strong enough hold over the area. He also has a number of other technical skills to help keep his medical equipment running.
For Patch living in the CZ is about shades of grey. Patch can live with the Warlords, while plenty of fighting and killing still happens in their name less of it is directed at the common people of the CZ. The gangs monopolize the roads, but they keep the turf wars generally to the edges of their territories. Even the few relief teams are usually cover for some other corp activity. Despite his Zen attitude toward living in a War zone, Patch hasn't managed to come out completely clean. *Dun Dun Dun*. (A medic/support, heavy in the contacts department and can shoot straight).
Another alternative is a smuggler named Zippo who runs the roads into and out of the CZ. He knows who to bribe to get a shipment of whatever mostly safely into or out of the zone. He'll work for who ever has the cred and many parties are interested in getting black market goods out of the CZ and discretely getting tech into the CZ. Originally he worked the route between Seattle and the NAN moving poached talisman supplies into the city and illegal tech out of the city, but decided to move his import / export business over to Chicago to take advantage of the expanding market. How well this business strategy worked is a matter of debate, there are fewer parties looking to get a piece of the pie and fewer people that he needs to bribe. However, there are more people willing to bash his head in and just take his payload.
He has a good working relationship with the gangers that control his route to the docks, and knows who's who at the docks themselves. He also has the connections to get people what they want for the right price. Up until now Zippo has been pretty content to smuggle for his meals, but he is sick of it. Zippo lives for the big pay off, and it is getting further and further away as competition moves into his nitch area yet again. Recently he caught wind of a Shadowrunner team that could use his skills and contacts... (A straight up smuggler with a to be determined minor second shtick.)
"This is where apple pie goes when it dies."