RealmForge

System: Shadowrun, 4th ed
Location: Seattle (primarily)
Main Characters: TBD
Venue: Real-time communication (TBD)
Number of Players: 4-6
Pitch:
"The beginning of the Sixth World ushered in the return of magic to the world. The otakus before Crash 2.0 talked of another kind of magic in the Matrix and of a darker side. Now someone is trying to combine both.

"There are some things that Man was never meant to tamper with. And he proceeds to do so with disastrous results. If he opens this Pandora's Box, life as we know it will end.

"If the Sixth World is to continue, this must be stopped. A mega-Corp must be sacrificed. This time, a phoenix must not arise from this ashes."

Notes from the GM:
While this is not a requirement, one character should be a technomancer and at least one character should have in-depth knowledge of magic (perhaps through being a magician or adept). This will help with dealing with the overarching plot.

You will have to take missions that have little to do with the overarching plot. Some of them will be just filler and some of them will be tied into the plot. I hope to make some things surprising but I'm told I have the subtlety of a tac nuke so we'll see...

You can get a legal PDF of the Shadowrun 4th ed book here. If you set up a DriveThru RPG account and ask, I'll buy a gift copy for you. Additionally, while on my home network, you will have access to the Arsenal, Augmentation, Runner's Companion, Street Magic, and Unwired books. I would appreciate it if you would not copy these from the fileserver to honor copyright, etc. (Also, you can buy all for $50 from DriveThru RPG.)

Also, if possible, you should take time to read the first two chapters of the Runner's Companion book.

All rules in the above mentioned books except for any alternate systems, options, etc. are valid for character generation. (In particular, don't even bother reading the "Alternative Character Creation" and "Alternative Character Concepts" of the Runner's Companion book.) Unless I've missed something. Oh, and no cyberzombies or blood magic.

I plan to make use of a wiki for the campaign for organizing notes and providing information. (This does mean adding a wiki for RealmForge but that's my problem.) There will be two spaces, one for player-public notes and one for GM-only notes. At the close of the campaign, the GM-only wiki will be made public (but read-only).


For deciding characters, the Runner's Companion book establishes the following team roles:

• Close Quarters Combat - Contain or eliminate targets in melee range. A lot of people know how to shoot a gun but they don't know how to dodge a sword.
• Fire Support - Eliminate targets in the open and keep other targets pinned until the Close Quarters Combat guy can pay them a visit.
• Infiltration - Sneak around and do whatever's needed that requires stealth.
• Investigation - Gather information, including walking about and talking to people, doing Matrix searches, etc.
• Magical Support - Provide perception into the astral realm and defend against magical attacks. (A magician or mystic adept should provide this.)
• Matrix Support - Hack and do whatever's needed that requires hacking. (A technomancer will provide this.)
• Negotiation - Talk to people, haggle with merchants, haggle with your employer, fast-talk the guard into believing that these really aren't the droids he's looking for.
• Transportation - Drive the car, get the team from point A to point B, and get the team through any "fun" on the highway relatively intact.

You will probably want at least one person who can provide each role, and if possible, more than one for a few. Fire Support can be handled by drones or by magic (flinging fireballs, that sort of thing).

And since I forgot to post it:

You probably want to use this thread for the following things:

1. Asking further questions about the game.
2. Saying that you're interested.
3. Saying when you'll be available to play.
4. Saying what kind of character you want to play.

I'd like to avoid playing a character in the game but I can if necessary. (Less headaches if I'm not directly involved.)

I suppose I should post my times...

Sun 12pm-7pm
Mon 8pm-1am, every other week
Tue 8pm-1am
Wed 8pm-1am
Thu 8pm-1am, every other week
Fri 10pm-1am
Sat 12pm-8pm

Currently Avarice 25-man raids run Saturday nights and alternate between Thursdays and Mondays. Avarice 10-man raids appear to be primarily Sunday night affairs at this point.

When raiding in Cataclysm starts, I expect that 10-man raids will eat Wednesday nights as well but we'll see.

I don't expect to be ready to start the campaign until after 10 October.


As far as online venue, which I left out of the set of questions, I'd like some setup that allows for logging/recording and automated dice-rolling. Some combination of IRC and TeamSpeak/Ventrilo/Skype (does Skype do this?) may work. Pure IRC would work as well. If there are better ideas, let me know.

2. Sure.
3. Schedule changing in half a month. No answer at this time.
4. Fill in the blank.