Shadowrun Setting: The Rig

[Lost Demiurge]

All this talk about Shadowrun has got me jonesing to run again... In fact, I think I'll bust out one of my old ideas, about a game set on a ruined oil rig. This one was inspired by Snow Crash, if you've read it. It's my attempt at bringing the Raft into a playable format. Comments and suggestions welcome.

THE RIG

The place known as the Rig was concieved as the world's largest fixed drilling platform, located above the largest deposit of oil ever found in the Pacific ocean. First planned in 2012 as a solution to China's ever-increasing need for oil and fossil fuels, it was meant to ensure a supply of crude oil for the PRC, that would not pose an ecological threat to an already-polluted nation.

The Rig was a triumph of engineering, with support struts that stretched twelve-thousand feet from the ocean floor to the surface, supporting the main body of the immense platform a good eighty feet above the surface of the ocean. Four-hundred miles northwest of Hawaii, it would be outside of Chinese national waters, but easily within range of supply routes.

Gaining the territorial rights proved to troublesome, with a tense United States unwilling to give Chinese interests such a large foothold within range of American soil. The matter would drag on for years, with legal issues preventing significant development. The project was put to the backburner, until 2016. The secession of Hong Kong cost China their most profitable port, and a large part of their petrochemical trade. The economy suffered, and the plans for the Rig were exhumed from the archives, reviewed, improved, and once again set into motion.

In 2016, the PRC managed to purchase territorial and drilling rights to the Rig's location from an embattled United States by using several layers of separation and a shell company, Qiao Xing. Dealing with the NAN uprising, the attention of Washington was elsewhere, and by the time the mistake was recognized, the White House had bigger problems.

In March of 2016, work began on the Rig with all the industrial might, effort, and fervor that China could invest to its construction. The lack of petrochemicals was the major component in their economic upset, an upset that was slowly removing them from their previously held position as the world's industrial center. As such, much attention and many hopes were focused upon the Rig. Corruption, a normal attribute of similar constructions, was rooted out and punished mercilessly. Bureacracy was neutered, no delays were allowed to hinder the busy schedule.

It was quite a lot of effort.

And as it turned out, it was all for nothing.

In 2018, bloody civil war began in the Chinese mainland. Pressured by a series of natural disasters, following a horrific depression, the provinces of mainland China began to assert their independence. Funding for the Rig disappeared, and the workers began deserting, trying to head home while they could. In late 2018, the US Navy moved in to seize the half-completed project. After waiting to observe the outcome of the Chinese civil war, the Rig was auctioned off to the highest corporate bidder, Lockheed-Martin. Lockheed-Martin contracted with the American government, and gained a commission to complete the rig's construction, and ensure a steady, non-middle-eastern supply of offshore oil to the United States of America for DoD use and support.

That was the goal. It was not to be.

Lockheed-Martin milked the contract for all it was worth, spending a decade wringing profits from the taxpayers of the United States. The schedule underwent constant revision, the work that did get done was slapdash, and the plans were changed multiple times each year, reflecting advances in construction that were questionable at best. Poor oversight and heavy lobbying at the highest levels ensured almost two decades worth of profit for the military defense giant.

It was during these decades, that the first refugees started to show up at the Rig. Many of them were mainland Chinese escaping warfare and oppression from their now-fragmented homeland. They were willing to work cheap, and Lockheed-Martin didn't mind employing off-the-books labor... This let them minimize the budget for safety preparations, medical expenses, benefits, and they worked cheap. In a turn of irony, many of the laborers had worked on the Rig during its first incarnation.

As the years stretched on, Lockheed started moving more and more of their own personnel out of the project, finally leaving it existing as a government dollar money mine under minimal supervision. It soon became known as a punishment post... Once you were stuck here, your career was done.

In 2030, amid clamors for government reform, Lockheed-Martin quietly abandoned the rig. The DoD was not amused, and the resulting legal troubles would hurt the military contractor for the rest of their independent existence.

With nowhere else to go, the Rig's workers and their families claimed the place. More refugee ships from various troublespots turned up, and the smuggling vessels that used to visit there clandestinely, now treated it as a neutral port. Pirates began to notice the Rig, and bloody wars were fought.

As the Rig was damaged during these battles, the refugees who called it home started adding to its infrastructure, cannibalizing pirate vessels and integrating them into the mix.

In 2034, America fractured into the UCAS and CAS, Lockheed-Martin was bought out, and most people in the West forgot about the Rig's existence. The folks who called it home were just fine with that... Despite frequent pirate assaults, it was gaining a reputation as a place where you could offload just about any cargo, and find great prices for questionable merchandise.

In 2036, flush with the success of seizing terrain in California, Imperial Japan attempted to annex the rig as a low-cost supply line to its new holdings. The people of the Rig put up an enormous resistance, aided by Filipino rebels who saw a chance to hurt their oppressors. The pirates who had formerly raided the Rig now turned their attention to the somewhat undertrained and overequipped Japanse naval vessels in the area. The Japanese forces had expected to run off a few pirates and chase out vermin... They hadn't expected the opposition that they got. Unable to secure the structure with small arms only, they could not employ larger weapons without risking the destruction of the platform... An end that would make the mission's goal a certified failure.

While the Japanese high command conferred, their hesitation lead to the Sakura incident, where the Destroyer of the same name was boarded by the Huk pirates, seized, and used to shell the Kingdom of Hawaii before it was destroyed by Japanese air forces. With the massive loss of face that ensued, and the censure of the newly-formed corporate court, Japan withdrew naval forces from the area.

The Rig spent the next thirty years following a simple pattern of serving as a haven for refugees, pirates, smugglers, and clandestine activity. Its occupancy eventually outstripped its habitable space, and as a solution, the inhabitants started creating Underside... By permanently mooring vessels and frankly, anything buoyant, to the support pillars under the platform, they created an uneven, gap-filled surface that got downright maze-like after a few years of development. There was no central plan to build it, no real blueprints for its construction... It was merely worked on when people had the time, materials, and inclination. By 2060 it stretched out like a skirt around the Rig, and was about twice the size of the platform.

Eventually, the pirate raids died down as they realized the profit to be gained from a port where you could sell just about ANY kind of cargo, without tariffs or government or corp to worry about. There was no law in the place beyond that of the gun, and if you behaved yourself, you could enjoy cheap R&R, a good drink that wasn't engine room whisky, and cheap refugee bedwarmers for the night.

Besides, now that the Underside had grown so large, any raiding groups had to go through the poor section to get to the good stuff. With the worst slums of Underside around the far edges, that was a good way to get mobbed by the most desperate and dangerous.

Mind you, some pirates are still crazy enough to TRY, but most know by now that it's not a good target.

It's now 2071, and life goes on. With the exodus of a few devoted technomancers from Russia, Hong Kong, and a few other places, the rig's been brought onto the matrix. It's still a place that doesn't exist, a nation without land, that's probably going to fall into the sea in a year, a decade, or a century. People with false names come here to conduct shadowbusiness. Corporations send shipments of rejects and crap goods off-the-books to sell in the only market that'll take them. The only law is the law of the gun, and ghouls and worse things lurk in the dark mazes of Underside.

The corps don't want to own it, the governments don't want to admit it exists, and so it goes on.

It's a cobbled-together mass of rusting steel and crumbling plascrete, surrounded by hulks of all sorts of ships, gathered after half a century's worth of salvage, seizure, and integration. The most well-off live up top, the poor and desperate live on Underside, and the rich don't live here at all. There are no official taxes, there is no government, there are no police, and there are damn few amenities. You pay through the nose for what you get, or you don't pay at all, and take your chances on the Underside.

Welcome to the Rig, Chummer.

[OverdrivePrime]

Demiurge, this is fantastic. Great work!

[potatocubed]

Man, there's like, 900 stories you could tell right off that description. Nice work!

[chiasaur11]

Man, there's like, 900 stories you could tell right off that description. Nice work!

There are a million stories in the sea-locked city.

Most of them aren't fit for public consuption.

[Doc Roc]

Just tell me when recruiting starts, okay? :)

You have my sword.



Also my ruthenium camo, Ruger Super WarHawk, spyball drones, wire cutters, and spray-foam explosives.

[Lost Demiurge]

Heh, thanks guys!

I've actually been mulling over this one as a PbP. VERY low-powered to start, though... 300 BP and availability 6 or lower gear only or so.

[Swordguy]

Just tell me when recruiting starts, okay? :)

You have my sword.

Also my ruthenium camo, Ruger Super WarHawk, spyball drones, wire cutters, and spray-foam explosives.

All of that.

Question though - Matrix access seems "iffy" by necessity. Wireless Matrix active out that far? Or is a hacker looking at old-school headjacking to poke around on the 'net?



Oh, and from having built some 4e PCs - I'd be VERY careful about limiting starting BP that far. A half-way reasonable statline on a metahuman is gonna run you 220-250 BP before you do anything else. Limit it to 350-375, and include stipulations; no more than "X BP may be used for nuyen", "Y BP may be used for skills", and so on. Limit the availability ratings as you see fit (double-check Wireless Reflexes 1, though, since mages are going to be able to cast reflex-enhancing spells regardless of availability ratings, mundane folks would need some way to keep up, and WR1 is the lowest-power way to do that), and you should be good.

[BRC]

I LOVE IT. I think you should expand it by coming up with some factions. Here's one

The "Greenies", A group of smugglers who set up permanent residence on The Rig, though now they buy and sell from other groups rather than do any smuggling work themselves. They've since elevated themselves to being fairly larg. players on The Rig, their higher ups even going so far as to talk amongst themselves like they are a legitimate merchant company. Their higher ups even wear buisness suits, to present a more "Professional" air than most of the people onboard the Rig. Most of their business comes from serving as a middleman between people who live on The Rig and visitors looking to do business. All their members can be identified by a green article of clothing. For the higher ups, it's often a tie, while their street-level operatives tend to prefer armbands.
Many people think of the Greenies, with their visible street presence, as a legitimate authority on The Rig. Newcomers mistake the visibly-armed "Green Goons", as some sort of police force. In fact, they are only interested in keeping enough peace so that potential business partners arn't scared off by exchanges of rocket fire. They have no interest in anything that does not affect their buisness.

[OverdrivePrime]

Oh, and from having built some 4e PCs - I'd be VERY careful about limiting starting BP that far. A half-way reasonable statline on a metahuman is gonna run you 220-250 BP before you do anything else. Limit it to 350-375, and include stipulations; no more than "X BP may be used for nuyen", "Y BP may be used for skills", and so on. Limit the availability ratings as you see fit (double-check Wireless Reflexes 1, though, since mages are going to be able to cast reflex-enhancing spells regardless of availability ratings, mundane folks would need some way to keep up, and WR1 is the lowest-power way to do that), and you should be good.

While I agree, and am slightly traumatized by the thought of having less than a 5 in my primary stat and couple of 4s for a human, with the Rig being a refugee camp with not the best access to health care and high standards of living or education, it makes sense to have low stats and skills for starting characters who've spent the entirety of their short lives there. Average stats might actually be pretty strong compared to the rest of the populace. If everyone's malnourished and has little access to any sort of education, a character with agility 4, reaction 4, and intuition 3 might be considered something of a hoop kicker. With no formal training, skill groups and 2 or 3 would be pretty advanced compared to the rest of the populace.

[Night Monkey]

Woah.

First, awesome description. Highly creative and, just as importantly, highly plausible for the setting.

This would be a great location for a SR game with a bit of a more anarchic feel, like cyberpunk Falloutverse.

I love it.

[Lost Demiurge]

All of that.

Question though - Matrix access seems "iffy" by necessity. Wireless Matrix active out that far? Or is a hacker looking at old-school headjacking to poke around on the 'net?

Actually, the way I envision it is some scrounged and salvaged BIG dishes, riding on hijacked satellite wavelength. Most of the place isn't wired, there's just enough around to keep the technomancers from going insane, let commlinks work in the area, and such-like. And if a techno or hacker wants to pay the gatekeeper, they can always go up the signal and go surfing around the net.

Actual AR there? Minimal to none. There ARE a few places where they've got wired security around, but only the really well off factions can afford that.

Oh, and from having built some 4e PCs - I'd be VERY careful about limiting starting BP that far. A half-way reasonable statline on a metahuman is gonna run you 220-250 BP before you do anything else. Limit it to 350-375, and include stipulations; no more than "X BP may be used for nuyen", "Y BP may be used for skills", and so on. Limit the availability ratings as you see fit (double-check Wireless Reflexes 1, though, since mages are going to be able to cast reflex-enhancing spells regardless of availability ratings, mundane folks would need some way to keep up, and WR1 is the lowest-power way to do that), and you should be good.

See, now, the campaign I'm envisioning starts at a refugee level, where the PC's are starting on Underside, and have to claw their way up. They're not far from gangers, and ideally, young to represent their decreased BP. Underside would be a setting where having a heavy pistol will draw you envy, and maybe a late-night knife in the throat if you flash it around without the cred to back it up.

Though I HAVE been considering allowing pc's to lower the availability for items by designating it as "worn-out", or "glitchy". So that every time you use the item in question, it adds a free "1" to your roll for every degree of glitchiness. Sure, you can fire that Ukranian surplus explosive ammo... Just don't be surprised if it jams your gun, or worse, takes off a few fingers when it blows the chamber!

And if a PC goes mage or adept without taking care to be subtle... Well, flashing magic on the Underside automatically makes you a meal ticket for slavers, or worse.

If it helps, think of this as the prelude, a "How my runner got to where he is." Sure, you'll start low, but by the time you reach 400 BP you'll have some serious stories, scars, and development to talk about. Want to be a rigger? Start with a commlink and some skills, and start collecting drones. Sure, half of 'em will be reworked Teddy Ruxpins, and some others will have coffee cans for chassis, but eventually you'll work up to an Eyespy, or if you hit it BIG, maybe a Doberman. And hell, by the time you get there you'll have your own kickin' speedboat, with hand-welded armor plating.

Want to be a mage? Magic 3, and 2-3 spells, plus maybe a mentor spirit or a contact who happens to be a Wu Jen ex-political prisoner. Sure, you won't be much to start, but you can do the small stuff and build up.

It's just a thought. The setting's out there, so feel free to drop it into your own SR game and use it as you wish. If nothing else, it makes good scenery for a stopover. :D

[Swordguy]

Cool. I'm all about "gangers with guns" as a style.

May I suggest a couple of NPCs written up so as to give an approximate power level to the game? One who's supposed to be a "runner equivalent" and one who's "reasonably badass guy"? That'll go a long way toward clearing up power questions, which always occur in variant settings.

Knowing that a starting mage should have a Magic 3 and only perhaps 3 spells, for example is incredibly informative.

And yes, you should definitely run this as a pBp game, if for no other reason than it'll force you to populate the rig with interesting characters - then you have a complete setting package to upload to general praise and acclaim on DumpShock.


EDIT: The cautionary note about Reflex Enhancers still applies, though. Extra actions are so great in ANY version of SR that either the whole group needs to at least have the opportunity to access them, or they need to be banned for starting PCs. In light of your writeup, I'd suggest the latter, but your call, obviously.

[Doc Roc]

EDIT: The cautionary note about Reflex Enhancers still applies, though. Extra actions are so great in ANY version of SR that either the whole group needs to at least have the opportunity to access them, or they need to be banned for starting PCs. In light of your writeup, I'd suggest the latter, but your call, obviously.

I second this but note that SR4 allows you to do some fancy juju with karma-for-actions, I remember correctly.
Had a guy with this beautiful build he called Roland for reasons that I think are obvious.

[BRC]

I would personally love to play a 4e game set on the Rig.

One question, how does language work on the Rig? I assume chinese woul yd be the primary language, but how common are other languages? Do you need to speak Chinese, or are there enough, say, english or spanish speakers around that you can make do with those languages if need be.

[Dragonmuncher]

Yeah, so all of this Shadowrun talk recently has made me curious. I'm off to get the 4e books, see what all the fuss is about. Maybe it'll finally spur me into trying a PbP game.

Oh, what's the difference between the 20th anniversary books, and 4e?

[Swordguy]

Yeah, so all of this Shadowrun talk recently has made me curious. I'm off to get the 4e books, see what all the fuss is about. Maybe it'll finally spur me into trying a PbP game.

Oh, what's the difference between the 20th anniversary books, and 4e?

The 20th anniversary books are essentially 4e + errata. There's a teenie bit more to it, but I can't recall what, exactly. All published 4e stuff is supposed to be 100% compatible with the 20y books.

[Doc Roc]

Splurge for the 20yA books. I have the 4e books, and the production values for the core books were very high.
The 20yA books are by all accounts gems.

[kjones]

Holy crap, Demiurge, this sounds awesome.

One question - how does one leave the Rig? Presumably, it takes money/connections... But how much money, and what kind of connections?

Also, == Swordguy with regards to character generation. Limiting availability will go a long way. I like the idea of "glitchy" equipment as well - seems like the sort of thing that could easily blow up in one's face, so to speak.

Finally, can I steal your ideas?

[Lost Demiurge]

Swordguy, thanks for the tips! I know how rough reflex enhancers can be... Probably a general ban on them would be the easiest way to do it.

I would personally love to play a 4e game set on the Rig.

One question, how does language work on the Rig? I assume chinese woul yd be the primary language, but how common are other languages? Do you need to speak Chinese, or are there enough, say, english or spanish speakers around that you can make do with those languages if need be.

Chinese is the most popular language, with English coming a close second. Russian and Korean are up there too, but not as common. If you know at least one of these, odds are you can get by. And if not, then there's a grinning merchant over in the corner market selling bargain basement skillsofts. Sure, they might frag your head a little, but you'll finally know what the Russians two boats over are arguing about in the morning.

The locals have developed a gutterspeak they call P'yin... Mostly simple Cantonese with a spattering of English and Spanish. Heavy slang, easy to use. It does NOT have its own skillsoft.

Kjones, it's pretty easy to leave the rig. Pirates and smugglers coming and going at all times, you can usually find SOMEONE to ship out, or even fly out if you've got the connections.

The trick is finding someplace to land afterwards. See, the Rig's a refugee nexus... It's actually pretty cheap to live here, if you're willing to work, or spend a little cred, or owe favors. It's not secure, safe, or prosperous, but you can live here cheap. Leaving the place means risking a trip, and moving to a more expensive area. And since you're SINless if you're born on the rig, you need people to set you up to land right...

Figure a Fixer 4 can do the job. It'd take at least 20K nuyen in fees to get it through. Mind you, that's for a safe and secure relocation, using reliable transport that won't cut your throat, harvest your cyber, and dump you mid-trip.

Now, if you're just looking for a trip outside for supplies or a mission, that's not so bad.

[Lost Demiurge]

Finally, can I steal your ideas?

Sure, steal the hell out of them! Just let me know how it goes, if you use it. :D

[Swordguy]

So, I woke up early and was bored, so I statted out a sample character. Is this about the power level you're looking for in this setting?


This was explicitly built under the "no reflex enhancers" entente. Everything is Availability 6 or less. Working under 300 BP meant that I really took it in the statline; he's pretty puny for a Troll.

Spoiler

Show

Troll Physical Adept

Attributes (140 BP stats + 40 BP race + 41 BP Magic +10 BP Edge)
Body 6
Agility 4
Reaction 3
Strength 6
Charisma 2
Intuition 3
Logic 3
Willpower 3
Edge 2
Magic 5

Active Skills (82 BP)
Gymnastics 3
Clubs (batons) 5 (7)
Dodge 2
Etiquette 2
Infiltration 2
Intimidation 1
Perception 2
Throwing Weapons 3

Knowledge Skills
16 points worth

Language Skills
Native 6
Chinese 2

Advantages (10 BP)
Adept 5
Ambidextrous 5

Disadvantages (-35 BP)
Allergy (Uncommon, Moderate)
Gremlins (2)
SINner (Criminal)
Scorched

Adept Powers (5 magic points)
Improved Combat Ability [Clubs] 2
Wall Running*
Mystic Armor 3
Combat Sense 2
Sustenance*
Improved Sense [Scent]

(* found in Street Magic Supplement)

Foci (Bonding BP cost added in "magic" under Attributes heading)
Rating 1 Weapon Focus (baton)

Contacts (8 BP)
2 Loy/1 Con Contact
2 Loy/1 Con Contact
1 Loy/1 Con Contact

Gear (4 BP; $20,000)
2 months Low Lifestyle
x2 Extendable Baton
Stun Baton
x4 Throwing Knife
Lined Coat (6/4)
Armor Jacket (8/6)
CMT Clip Comlink
Vector Xim OS
Subvocal Microphone
Rating 3 micro-tranciever
Virtual Pet Simsense Game
Virtual Surround Music
Rating 4 Respirator
Survival Kit
x2 Rating 3 Stimulant Patch
Trauma patch
x6 Flash-bang Grenades
x2 Smoke Grenades
x4 Pepper Punch Gas Grenades
500 nuyen of Misc Spare Clothing
400 nuyen of Misc Hong-king Bad Martial Arts movies (on commlink)
Stuffed Cat (looks like the one in the Virtual Pet game)
$250 remaining


Relevant Combat Rolls
Attack with mundane extendable baton is at 9 dice (7 skill, 2 from Improved Combat ability), plus potential Reach bonuses (Reach 2). Baton attack hits at 7 (STR/2+1) physical damage against impact armor. If he's using his weapon focus, this goes up, of course.

He defends against attacks with 5 dice (Reaction 3 + Combat sense 2). Damage soak is pretty good - Body 6, 3 levels of guaranteed B/I armor from Mystic Armor, and whatever armor he happens to be wearing.

[Lost Demiurge]

Yeah, that's about right, Swordguy! You've definitely got a heavy hitter for Underside. Guy looks lethal up close, but he's going to have a big problem with guns for most of his life.

With clubs that high, I'm seeing an ex-Fillipino guerilla, trained in Escrima. That criminal SIN could've easily come from internment in Yomi, or otherwise annoying the Japanese government back during the occupation.

Mind you, that disadvantage of Gremlins would make that fellow really unpopular. In a place full of so much jury-rigged equipment, his name is going to be known and cursed among the mechanics. There's probably places he can't go without getting shot on sight.

EDIT: Also, he's got a good chunk of gear. Either he's got in good with a prosperous gang, or he's lucked into a good stash and managed to keep it hidden.

[Swordguy]

That was actually more gear than I wanted - I ended up with 1 BP left over, and there's nothing you can do with 1 BP aside from getting more nuyen. So there's 5K nuyen I had to spend on something. I originally had it like this:

1 month Low Lifestyle
x2 Extendable Baton
x4 Throwing Knife
Armor Jacket (8/6)
Rating 3 micro-tranciever
Virtual Pet Simsense Game
Rating 4 Respirator
Survival Kit
Trauma patch
x2 Flash-bang Grenades
x2 Smoke Grenades
x2 Pepper Punch Gas Grenades
Stuffed Cat (looks like the one in the Virtual Pet game)

It's good to see that's about where you wanted it. Very clear - I do hope you run this as a pBp game.

EDIT: I take that back - I could have bonded another weapon focus for 1 BP. Too bad I couldn't afford a second one.

EDIT2: About the guns - I'm thinking the rig as very close in concept to a space station. There's going to be a lot of fighting in corridors and tight spaces - so a lack of guns isn't necessarily as bad as you might think.

[Lost Demiurge]

Yeah... I've been toying with the idea of letting folks hold BP back, for later use. Mind you, you'd be limited to holding a maximum of 3, but you COULD do it.

My vision of the Rig has a mix of wide open spots, mazelike roofless decks and tangles of housing, and tight corridors once you get into the REALLY developed spots, or when you head belowdecks on the larger shiphomes. Guns still rule here, but there ARE spots where you can force a foe to close... And it's almost always easy to get cover of some sort.

If I do run this, which is looking pretty likely, I'll work out a zone breakdown for the major parts of Underside and the Platform.

[BRC]

I should stat up my Rig Character. I was thinking a Mechanic type character. Backstory was that he worked on a Freighter until some Pirates attacked it and took him onboard because he had valuable skills. When they got the The Rig he slipped out and vanished into the throng of the Refugees.

[Lost Demiurge]

Not bad! Getting away from pirates is always a good reason to be on the Rig.

Just remember guys, this isn't a recruitment thread. When I do the PbP, I'll post one in the appropriate spot.

[kjones]

400 nuyen of Misc Hong-king Bad Martial Arts movies (on commlink)

Swordguy, you're my hero.

Question: What's the metatype demographic on the Rig? Mostly human? An even mix? Somewhere in between?

[BRC]

Swordguy, you're my hero.

Question: What's the metatype demographic on the Rig? Mostly human? An even mix? Somewhere in between?

Not official here, but I'd expect a higher-than-average number of Orcs, considering the Japanese views towards metahumans, I wouldn't be surprised if alot of Japanese Orcs and Trolls ended up fleeing to the Rig.

[Lost Demiurge]

Swordguy, you're my hero.

Question: What's the metatype demographic on the Rig? Mostly human? An even mix? Somewhere in between?

It's actually a pretty even spread, due to a lot of metahumans leaving Yomi. Humans and orks make up the most of'em, with dwarves in second and elves and trolls coming in third. There's also ghouls down in the more warren-like sections of the Underside.

Orks actually do pretty well out on the Rig. Big families are an advantage out here, and while you have to feed'em more than humans, they're tough enough to take the hard living and lack of amenities. And if a few kids get lost due to predators or slavers or teenage stupidity, then you can always make more.

There's a sizeable population of Japanese metatype variants, like Oni and Koroboro... Keroburo... Those little dwarf guys. Other metavariants pass through, but tend not to stay. Still, it'd be possible to find an ogre or a minotaur or a gnome if you looked hard enough.

Weirder metavariants are uncommon. There's enough superstition and folklore around that any dracoform who tried to live here would find every part of him cut up and ground into medicine or telesma. Rumor is that there's at least one naga living up on the platform... If that's so then it probably doesn't come outdoors much.

[Cristo Meyers]

Just remember guys, this isn't a recruitment thread. When I do the PbP, I'll post one in the appropriate spot.

Please let me know when/if you do.

This is just too good to pass up.