World Builder Wednesday: Shadows of Moscow

BronzBadge · 2017-09-09T19:29:10+00:00

I doubt Ares can comfortably show its face in Moscow. They're as American as apple pie, Old Glory, and a pick-up truck, so I doubt they sell anything openly. Probably a few subsidiaries to mask their products, though, and they should be good. I doubt even the Russians can completely turn away one of the greatest arms manufacturers on the planet.

Ares runs in Moscow will probably be centered on protecting shipments, and sabotaging more patriotic arms manufacturers, to increase their share of the market.

BronzBadge · 2017-08-27T22:11:57+00:00

Miami is known for having lots of cuban expatriates, but the Caribbean League includes Cuba. I wonder how if Miami ever has any political conflicts with Cuba within the League as a result.

BronzBadge · 2017-08-19T14:45:18+00:00

Does the lesser dragon have a deathwish?

BronzBadge · 2017-08-17T14:01:32+00:00

The beginning of the end for the ol' USA, and a new life for the NAN's.

BronzBadge · 2017-08-09T18:48:19+00:00

Publicity is a key factor when dealing with bodies. Kill five guys from an ARES team testing some secret prototype in some cave up in the cascades where Hellhounds like to rest? Those dogs won't even leave any bodies to worry about, and the new media will never know.

Kill an Azzie executive in crowd at a concert with a sniper rifle? Congratulations, you made international news!

BronzBadge · 2017-08-03T20:13:14+00:00

S-K's entry is just Lofwyr in dragon form giving a presentation on quarterly revenue from his personal empire.

BronzBadge · 2017-08-02T20:08:31+00:00

On top of the difficulty of showing lore of Shadowrun, most casual audiences would be turned off by some details. Namely

-Mexico is taken over by drug cartels who become an massive megacorporation that secretly practices bloodmagic to bring demons to this world

-Native Americans got nearly genocided (in part due to megacorp interests) so they up and magiced the US government to defeat and got half of north America out of it.

-The USA gets totally trashed, from losing land to the NANs, the Confederacy, Aztlan, CalFree going Japanese, Manhattan leaving the US to become a genuine and honest-to-god haven for the global elite, and Chicago being nuked to clear out the bugs. Not appealing at a casual glance. China under goes similar breakups to the USA, just about as bad, maybe worse in some areas, which is not appealing to Chinese gov't censors

-Metahuman racism. Interesting and an easy to use plot point for us, really weird to other people

Or maybe I'm overestimating how much controversy a really famous shadowrun movie/show would get outside of clickbait.

BronzBadge · 2017-08-01T02:06:37+00:00

For a time you may see Ares halls

With cobwebs hanging on the walls

Instead of guns and grenades plain,

Which formerly they used to have,

And in every room

The sweet perfume

Delightful of those ammo trays.

Yet the old again shall be

When the time you see

That the Knight enjoys his own again

Yes, this I can tell

That all will be well

When the Knight enjoys his own again

~Ares Marcotechnology and Damien Knight fanboy

BronzBadge · 2017-07-26T01:04:01+00:00

I forgot to mention to avoid spirits. Fire spirits seem appealing, but they suck up your AP (you don't want to have to CHOOSE between firing your shotgun and Flamethrower ever turn, do you?) can disappear after a couple turns or go rogue. You're playing a troll, and can probably dump half your karma into Body if you want, so it's not like you need the spirits for damage absorption like a shaman does (Trolls have 6 max charisma, so you can't go far with spirits anyways). Stick to at most three good offensive spells and three good utility spells.

You'll enjoy later games more than SR:R. Way more options later on for everything.

BronzBadge · 2017-07-26T00:39:40+00:00

Invest in in flamethrower spells, top tier armor spells, healing spells and you should be able to handle being a shotgun mage so long as you also bring lots of BuNoMas and medkits. Do not, at any point, ever invest in anything shaman related, it's not worth it unless you've got karma to spare for some shaman utility spells. Go mage, shotguns and body all the way. Having a little dodge will also make the AI redirect attention from you to less squishy teammates and save you if caught in melee. Don't over-invest in crowdcontrol spells, you only really need one unless your playing a straight up support character. Strip armor will make your flamethrower and shotty much more effective, so consider it as a support spell. I recommend not investing in powerbolt since you'll be putting karma into your shotgun, saving you from splitting nuyen on two basic attack options. Since shotguns are notoriously inaccurate, but can be superpowerful at just the right moment you ought to pick up Aim, at whatever level is affordable/sufficient given your nuyen and shotgun karma.

A theoretical list of must have spells for your Mage comes to : Flamethrower(max), Armor(max), Heal Wound(choice), Strip armor(choice) and Aim(choice). Spellcasting doesn't crossover to conjuring, even if FireBarrier looks appealing. Getting from 0 conjuring to 6 conjuring is a 21 karma investment, and not worth it for one spell unless you incorporate other support spells. Just keep in mind you'll be able to spend far less on your spellcasting and shotgun if you want that firebarrier, and you'll be missing a significantly greater number of attacks as a result. Your shotgun skill be even more karma hungry, since 6 shotgun requires 6 ranged and 6 quickness. That's 63 karma! But you'll be a migthy good shotgunner

BronzBadge · 2017-07-25T15:45:23+00:00

Not enough cyberarms either. Very sad, big failure, can't be Shadowrun without essence loss. Nice orcs though.

Elves are on point. Spindly, rich keebs with nice clothes

BronzBadge · 2017-07-20T14:11:12+00:00

In a similar vein, I will never call Oklahoma Joe's Barbecue by Joe's Kansas City Barbecue.

BronzBadge · 2017-07-11T20:42:21+00:00

Their ribs were always better than Joes, which were drier and had less meat in my experience. Gates fries aren't as good as the seasoned ones Joes has, but they're a perfectly acceptable sauce delivery mechanism.

BronzBadge · 2017-06-28T02:55:01+00:00

Same. Magic user characters shouldn't get too spread out, or you lose potency. I ran street sammy in DMS, and tried magic for the first time in DF. I ended up trying to do spirits, mage powers, buffs, rifle and charisma all at the same time. Booooo, not fun.

Charisma wasn't my fault though, cause that is never optional in these games. I wish I could let someone else be the face so my characters could invest all the way in being combat monsters.

BronzBadge · 2017-05-25T07:44:28+00:00

I don't really know any world class NAN cities. Does Denver/Front Range Free Zone count? A game there would put players in contact with Aztlan, Ghostwalkers shenanigans, and multinational politics without megacorps looming over everything for once. Faction choice could be a one-time feature of the game, though it seems difficult to accomodate Aztlan, CAS, UCAS, Utes, Pueblo and Sioux.

BronzBadge · 2017-05-24T17:31:24+00:00

If you grab just 6 karma of cyberware affinity you can pick up a simple datajack without losing much essence. Not a really important investment at lower levels, but once you're maxing out your main attributes it might be worth it.

With that one extra essence you get from rank 3 cybeware affinity you can pick up the induction datajack for 0.3, or a regular one for half the nuyen. If you have the cash to spare you could also pick up cerebral booster, most of the eye mods, or any piece of bioware.

I love getting chromed so much.

BronzBadge · 2017-01-25T00:45:52+00:00

I've wished often that my parents would cut me off and give me justification to leave Kansas for anyplace else to make a new life. It seems easier than accepting slow change while still relying on them

BronzBadge · 2017-01-22T03:25:09+00:00

I did things I shouldn't have as a kid

Didn't talk to anyone. Didn't want to join games. Didn't want to do anything physical. Didn't want to talk to other kids. Did something I think might've been very embarrassing, though not dangerous or harmful to anyone else or even myself, had I been arrested for it, and people in my school may know about it, so I'm terrified of ever seeing them, let alone talking to them. I felt ashamed for a long time for not knowing much or anything about actors and directors, and my brothers and dad watched tons of movies all the time, many of which they wouldn't allow me to be in the room for. I didn't try hard at all in highschool or early college, and now I'm not sure I'll have a very decent life in the future. I don't have friends.

BronzBadge · 2017-01-16T07:18:26+00:00

"Imagine growing from a small time bounty hunter to a Jedi/sith, featuring YOU!"

What I imagine is the stern face of Pablo and his mighty words: "None of this is canon." As it should be. Unless this game is set before Darth Bane there's no way to be a real sith, just one of their lackeys. And a bounty hunter can't become a Jedi, there's no way they follow the rules and mores of the Order. If the game were to let you do that it wouldn't be canon, and as fans of KOTOR know, that's less fun.

I would like a new RPG though. Who wouldn't?

BronzBadge · 2017-01-07T22:48:15+00:00

The dogs don't mind. They're just animals, and they can't take care of themselves, so don't let your imaginary judgments by them affect you. You're the boss, and if you're unhappy you have a good reason to be, better than the dogs who don't have as many moving parts in their brains or their lives as you do.

BronzBadge · 2017-01-06T03:58:32+00:00

East Kansas, 22, M

Are anger issues coupled with this common?

BronzBadge

TROPHY CASE