So, Shadowrun. After mostly managing to get rid of the fallout from my (in)famous previous attempt at running a forum-based TRPG, I've come up with something that just might work.

We'll be running Shadowrun 4th ed, Anniversary Edition, second printing, with all the "core" books (Street Magic et al).
This is planned to be a combat-heavy, no-hacking campaign (rigging still ok), to avoid most of the timesinks and complications of the previous attempt.

Since character creation for SR4 usually takes upwards of seven hours and requires pretty much having all 5 books to use as reference, I'll be using the default character archetypes from the main book. Just choose your preferred class, pick a name and write as much of an edgy backstory as you'd like.

As for the gist of it: You are spec-ops-for-hire in the dystopian cyberpunk shamanistic future. Get hired, shoot stuff, ideally get rich and retire, most likely die along the way (but in ways that'd make Michael Bay proud).

So! Here's the classes to pick from:


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1- Bounty Hunter: Burly troll from the wilderness. Good at shooting stuff, occasionally punching stuff, and hunting with a bow. All around flexible character, but socially and technologically inept.

Combat Mage: Zappy elf wizard. Physically mediocre, but SPITS FIRE AND COUGHS LIGHTNING. Can only use spells, no summoning. Also a pansy elf who thinks having a katana beats having a gun.

Spec Ops Specialist: Sneaky human. Very good at hiding in the shadows, can also bluff his way out in a pinch. Reasonably good at combat, but only with sneaky stuff like knives and silenced SMGs.

Enforcer: ME AM BIG TROLL. ME PUNCH THINGS. ME SHOOT, TOO. ME NOT GOOD WITH WORDS. ME ALSO SNEAKY, CAN PICK POCKETS WITH SNEAKY TROLL HANDS.

Face: Smug dwarf. Probably the one class that has an excuse to look attractive. Pretty terrible at combat, but can convince people of stuff and negotiate very well. Has contacts that can set you up with different sorts of gear, and owns a subcompact car.

Gunslinger Adept:Athletic ork with a love for two things: ninja moves and revolvers. Really fast, can take a beating and shoots accurately, but deals low damage in melee. Can fit in any crowd or gang, but otherwise very bad socially.

Occult investigator: Human wizard, jack of all trades. Absolutely completely terribad at combat, but can summon reasonable spirits, make stuff invisible, and do slight mindcontrol. Hardmode class, requires luck to make work.

Radical Eco-Shaman: Vegan dwarf, summoning oriented. Can turn into a wolf and has a backpack full of C4. Summons spirit bears into battle, but physically not very strong.

Smuggler: Designated driver. Looks like an elf but is actually just a human with really pointy ears. Very good at driving anything but boats, bad at direct combat but an expert at using mounted weapons. Most importantly, has an unmarked grey van to stuff 'cargo' into. Also has a hollow ribcage for extra-sneaky smuggling.

Ganger: Angry ork, urban counterpart to the bounty hunter. Can navigate alleys and back streets, steal cars, whack people with baseball bat and occasionally shoot at them. Sturdy and versatile.

Street Samurai: Human cyborg, good at close to midrange combat. Packs three pistols and two swords, as well as robot arms with builtin swords. Somewhat fragile, but cuts stuff up pretty well. Owns a motorbike.

Street Shaman: Dedicated summoner human. Sturdy, but completely incapable of personal combat. Has basic damage spells, but excels at summoning spirit allies. Not very courageous, tends to take cover as soon as a fight breaks out.

Weapon Specialist: Elf /k/ommando. Good at shooting guns, cleaning guns, carrying guns, hoarding guns. Expert at trigger safety, always wears camo and a bulletproof vest. When not expecting combat, goes out on the street carrying just a revolver, 2 katanas, a crossbow and a stun baton. Otherwise brings the grenades, machinegun and the axe.



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And that's it. Pick your poison, gentlemen. We'll start as soon as there's 3 players, but more can show up mid-session. Upper limit is 5 though, otherwise combat will take FOREVER.

Ideally, there will be a full roll every 1-2 days, with minirolls inbetween for minor actions.

(Custom character)

Name: Allie (nickname from being called Alley Doctor)
Description: A smallish elf priest with short auburn hair and hazel eyes, wears a Miko outfit.

Reserved, Street-Eco Shaman.
Name: Johnathon Freiermann, aka "Faust"
Desc: A tall, somewhat scruffy German man with a slight accent. Sometimes talks to spirits, or maybe himself. Not very familiar with the ways of the city, having lived most of his life in a small countryside cottage.

Reserved, you glorious bastard.

Playing a custom ex-megacorp soldier guy with lots of augments. Sort of resembles a street samurai.

Name: Bright (nickname from his colleagues for the times he's had to "light 'em up")
Description: An athletic orc familiar with security protocols and furtive intrusion, and the occasional social encounter. His body looks heavily altered, so much so that if you shot him with a light pistol you think it'd just bounce off. Good with unarmed combat and automatics.

Reserved:
Enforcer
Kaw Kiefer
Backsmasher

Successfully grew up with a loving family in relatively impoverished district in a city somewhere; worked in bouncer and bodyguard duties for various clients until now...

Reserved

Radical Eco-Shaman

Name: Culklin Aklo

Description:
Short in many ways. These may or may not include: Height, patience, money, intelligence, and conscience.
Occasionally has bursts of wisdom, usually after he does something illegal.
Loves explosives and not much else.
Wears whatever he wants, with plates of scrap metal over his clothing to provide minor protection in the case of flying shrapnel.
Has a long beard and a fine mustache, but not much hair on his head otherwise.

Gunslinger adept.
reserved

Name: Vargall
Description: A massive Ork with a love for old school pirates and big revolvers. Considered a weird outcast by other orks and laughed at by humans, right up to the point he puts a quarter sized hole through their skull.

I'm going to obtain as many revolvers as possible.....and a tricorne.

Well, seeing as 5 outta 6 persons are ready, we might as well start! If the last guy comes back, he can always appear in the middle of the action.


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You all begin at a tavern. Or rather, at the 2070's Seattle equivalent of a tavern, a 24/7 convenience store. For some bizzarre reason, five complete strangers decided, almost simultaneously, to visit the nearest Stuffer Shack at 3:14 AM on a particularly rainy night.

Perhaps you desperately needed some vanilla cookies. Perhaps you'd run out of toilet paper or AAA batteries. Perhaps you were just trying to find shelter from the cold rain outside. Whatever the case may be, you're here now.

The shop is, as most Stuffer Shacks tend to be, messy and covered in neon-bright holo-advertisement. The single clerk sits at his post, absentmindedly flipping through a digital comic book, while his girlfriend sits on a stool next to the counter, babbling incessantly about her completely uneventful day. A young punk couple sporting pink mohawks is shopping sullenly for cat food. A thin middle-aged man searches the ice cream cases frantically as if his life hung in the balance.

You all instantly recognise one another as aspiring shadowrunners by your dashing good looks and jaded eyes, and briefly stop to do a shadowrunner handshake before turning your attentions to your goods of choice.


What will you buy?

Look over drinks, scrutinize the little chipbags. I feel thirsty and could use some salt. Eye the ice cream man, crazy types wear trouble with them.

A pocket knife or a paring knife with a plastic sheath (probably going to be some cheap piece of junk but whatever), bandages, two bottles of isopropyl alcohol, two lighters, box of matches, duct tape, reusable water bottle, a sauce pan (if they have it), and grab a crapload of extra plastic grocery bags.

If they have backpacks or those canvas grocery bags, get one and stash my stuff into that, else stuff it into the saucepan and put some grocery bags over it and tie them tight to keep the goods contained. If no backpack/canvas bag or saucepan, stuff in a double layered grocery bag.

Knife goes in pocket.


Then, grab some high calorie / high nutrition snacks like energy bars. If they have a soda fountain with a water option, fill my water bottle with water.

Current map:


Backsmasher moves to the junk food section on aisle 15, throwing sideways glances at the fidgety man. He looks harmless enough, and you do not notice anything unusual.

Faust decides to look over the organic sandwich freezer behind aisle 18, whereas Vargall grabs a twelve-pack of SoyBeer(tm) and moves to area F to use the "Hey it almost looks like meat" automatic burger dispenser.

Allie, always ready for the incoming zombie apocalypse, saunters over to aisle 4, and raids the house utilities section for a small knife and assorted survival equipment, putting it all in a cheap-looking synthcanvas backpack. She sheathes the knife and remembers that there should be medkits on the nearby first aid section, which could be useful.

Bright scans the girl with his vision enhancement suite. 4'6", slightly overweight, dyed blonde hair, brown eyes. Oh, and she's a dwarf. Your thermographic analyzer does not know how to process this, and simply outputs "personal preference".
He then moves to aisle 5 for cleaning goods, after ascertaining that no, this is not actually a gas station.


You hear a car stopping in the parking lot, and another customer walks into the shop, a redhead elf carrying a wailing baby in her arms. You all sullenly turn your noses at the commotion, which is spoiling the remnants of your saturday night stupor.


What will you do?