Shpadoinkle
2018-06-30, 08:47 PM
I had a couple questions about what you guys would like to see. Hopefully I'll be able to get the first part or two up within a week.
If you're unfamiliar with Shadowrun as a system and/or setting, let me crib the opening paragraph from TVTropes:
"A standard mission is 20 minutes of objectives, three days of planning, and 600 seconds of mayhem."
Shadowrun is a Tabletop Game from FASA straddling the Cyber Punk and Dungeon Punk genres. It is set, depending on the edition, in the mid- or late 21st century, after magic returned on December 21, 2012, as it had more than once in the distant past. Dragons and other mythic beasts awoke from eons-long slumber; many humans gained magic and/or mutated into new, yet familiar species. The Native Americans were the first ones to use magic on a greater scale, and they used their newfound power to retake most of the western North American continent. The real movers and shakers, though, are the megacorporations, who have achieved extraterritorial status and are now exempt from the majority of laws. In this world, the players are Shadowrunners; freelance operatives who take jobs that corporations, governments, and other entities prefer not to handle themselves — and occasionally, they handle the ones those entities can't.
ANYWAY, all that aside, I mostly wanted to know what archetype people would most be interested in seeing me play as. I've completed the game with my main character as every archetype except Decker, so whatever you guys want to see would be fine.
The available archetypes are:
- Street Samurai: The 'warrior' archetype. Samurai are generally good with either guns or close combat (swords or unarmed,) and throwing weapons like knives and grenades. Always good too have one around.
- Mage (AKA a practitioner of hermetic magic): Mages are versatile and powerful runners. They have spells that let them heal damage taken by themselves or an ally, boost their allies' accuracy, increase armor, and of course there's your assortment of offensive spells with which you can blow up your enemies, coat them in acid, or zap them with lightning or sheer magical force.
- Decker: Basically the game's thief archetype. Deckers "jack in" to the Matix (basically the game's equivalent of the internet) and create a 'persona' with which to manipulate data... for instance, the programs created specifically to try to kill deckers. This allows them to do things like open doors, disable security alarms, and steal information or plant false information. Doing stuff in the Matrix is, unfortunately, a solo activity, but deckers can run programs called "ESPs" which create cyberminions under their control.
- Shaman (AKA a practitioner of "true" magic): Shamans get their powers from a patron spirit, referred to as a totem. This grants them the ability to use magic (though different spells from the kind mages use,) which is mostly focused on buffs, debuffs, and battlefield control. Shamans can also summon spirits from fetishes (magic talismans which they can carry around with them) or from the environment itself, in some places.
- Rigger: Riggers fight by using a Datajack (sort of like a USB port implanted into your skull) to control small robots called drones. Drones can fit through small areas (like air vents,) and come equipped with either a rifle attachment or a small grenade launcher. Some also have other abilities. A rigger's drones can provide cover fire, support, and surveillance for their team.
- Physical Adept: Adepts are basically Shadowrun's version of monks. Instead of using magic to blow stuff up, they instead use it to enhance their own physical abilities. Playing an adept means going pretty light on the cyberware (basically 'hardware' upgrades, but for your body - like replacing your flesh-and-blood arms with ones made of metal, which increase your strength and hardiness, for instance) though. You'll have more cash, because you're not spending it all on upgrades, but instead you'll have to get most of your upgrades via karma (Shadowrun's experience points) ... which is a much more limited resource. Besides which, there just isn't that much BESIDES upgrades to spend money on.
Furthermore, bear in mind I won't be going at this alone: I'll have allies tagging along who will cover pretty much all the necessary bases. The permanent allies you've got in this game are:
- Glory: Combat medic. A samurai armed with a pistol, a pair of metal arms with retractable claws in her fingers (which inflict bleeding on those she hits with them,) and she's good with a Medkit. Her biggest downside is her relatively poor accuracy.
- Deitrich: Dragonslayer shaman. He's billed as a shaman, but he knows more mage spells. He's also good with throwing knives.
- Eiger: "Combat Specialist." A former soldier turned mecenary, she's good with rifles, shotguns, and throwing weapons like knives and grenades.
- Blitz (optional): Decker/rigger. He's way better as a decker than a rigger. He has a personalized drone outfitted with a custom stunner, which can come in handy.
As you can see, the rest of the team covers all the bases pretty solidly, therefore you're free to let me know which archetype you'd like to see me play as without being afraid of choosing something that's going to wind up making the game unplayable.
If you're unfamiliar with Shadowrun as a system and/or setting, let me crib the opening paragraph from TVTropes:
"A standard mission is 20 minutes of objectives, three days of planning, and 600 seconds of mayhem."
Shadowrun is a Tabletop Game from FASA straddling the Cyber Punk and Dungeon Punk genres. It is set, depending on the edition, in the mid- or late 21st century, after magic returned on December 21, 2012, as it had more than once in the distant past. Dragons and other mythic beasts awoke from eons-long slumber; many humans gained magic and/or mutated into new, yet familiar species. The Native Americans were the first ones to use magic on a greater scale, and they used their newfound power to retake most of the western North American continent. The real movers and shakers, though, are the megacorporations, who have achieved extraterritorial status and are now exempt from the majority of laws. In this world, the players are Shadowrunners; freelance operatives who take jobs that corporations, governments, and other entities prefer not to handle themselves — and occasionally, they handle the ones those entities can't.
ANYWAY, all that aside, I mostly wanted to know what archetype people would most be interested in seeing me play as. I've completed the game with my main character as every archetype except Decker, so whatever you guys want to see would be fine.
The available archetypes are:
- Street Samurai: The 'warrior' archetype. Samurai are generally good with either guns or close combat (swords or unarmed,) and throwing weapons like knives and grenades. Always good too have one around.
- Mage (AKA a practitioner of hermetic magic): Mages are versatile and powerful runners. They have spells that let them heal damage taken by themselves or an ally, boost their allies' accuracy, increase armor, and of course there's your assortment of offensive spells with which you can blow up your enemies, coat them in acid, or zap them with lightning or sheer magical force.
- Decker: Basically the game's thief archetype. Deckers "jack in" to the Matix (basically the game's equivalent of the internet) and create a 'persona' with which to manipulate data... for instance, the programs created specifically to try to kill deckers. This allows them to do things like open doors, disable security alarms, and steal information or plant false information. Doing stuff in the Matrix is, unfortunately, a solo activity, but deckers can run programs called "ESPs" which create cyberminions under their control.
- Shaman (AKA a practitioner of "true" magic): Shamans get their powers from a patron spirit, referred to as a totem. This grants them the ability to use magic (though different spells from the kind mages use,) which is mostly focused on buffs, debuffs, and battlefield control. Shamans can also summon spirits from fetishes (magic talismans which they can carry around with them) or from the environment itself, in some places.
- Rigger: Riggers fight by using a Datajack (sort of like a USB port implanted into your skull) to control small robots called drones. Drones can fit through small areas (like air vents,) and come equipped with either a rifle attachment or a small grenade launcher. Some also have other abilities. A rigger's drones can provide cover fire, support, and surveillance for their team.
- Physical Adept: Adepts are basically Shadowrun's version of monks. Instead of using magic to blow stuff up, they instead use it to enhance their own physical abilities. Playing an adept means going pretty light on the cyberware (basically 'hardware' upgrades, but for your body - like replacing your flesh-and-blood arms with ones made of metal, which increase your strength and hardiness, for instance) though. You'll have more cash, because you're not spending it all on upgrades, but instead you'll have to get most of your upgrades via karma (Shadowrun's experience points) ... which is a much more limited resource. Besides which, there just isn't that much BESIDES upgrades to spend money on.
Furthermore, bear in mind I won't be going at this alone: I'll have allies tagging along who will cover pretty much all the necessary bases. The permanent allies you've got in this game are:
- Glory: Combat medic. A samurai armed with a pistol, a pair of metal arms with retractable claws in her fingers (which inflict bleeding on those she hits with them,) and she's good with a Medkit. Her biggest downside is her relatively poor accuracy.
- Deitrich: Dragonslayer shaman. He's billed as a shaman, but he knows more mage spells. He's also good with throwing knives.
- Eiger: "Combat Specialist." A former soldier turned mecenary, she's good with rifles, shotguns, and throwing weapons like knives and grenades.
- Blitz (optional): Decker/rigger. He's way better as a decker than a rigger. He has a personalized drone outfitted with a custom stunner, which can come in handy.
As you can see, the rest of the team covers all the bases pretty solidly, therefore you're free to let me know which archetype you'd like to see me play as without being afraid of choosing something that's going to wind up making the game unplayable.