On the Beat

You scan the memo again. SPIKE. Special Protection Initative: Knight Errand to whatever desk-jockies spent their time dreaming up alphabet soup names. Being asked to join was a real honor, even a new team like Theta and even if the mission brief included playing nice to LoneStar chumps rather then the more typical turf battles between the two corps. As for working under Captain Thaddus Rocks - rumor mill had him marked as one of Knight Errand's best and brightest, one of the ones destined for the top. He was supposed to be a hard-case, but whispers claimed he had been known to bend a few rules from time to time. And Seattle was hot turf to work for a sec force - crawling with runners. Should keep things busy. Orders were to report to Rocks first thing Monday morning - should be interesting.

OOC:

Alright, so we are going to be coming at things from the other side of the shadows on this one. You are a veteren member of Knight Errand, and have been invited to join a small, elite team based in Seattle. The team is offically being subcontracted out to support LoneStar in an effort to cut down on the every growing tide of shadowrunners based there... though its not completely clear if your ultimate bosses truly want to to cut the runners off or to just look good trying. At some point, I may even do paralle runs, with one group of players trying to accomplish something and you trying to stop them, but that's for the future.

Builds are 475 bp. You are still limited to 200 bp for abilities and all other normal bp restrictions - this means your characters should tend to be a bit skill/contact heavy, which is intentional. No restrictions on gear based on avalibility, but try to think about things from the persepctive of a cop - your bosses generally won't be wanting you to be walking around with a flame-thrower without a good reason, for example.

All characters receive the following for free (note, you don't have to actually USE this gear, but you'll be issued it and its expected you won't sell it for cash):
-Ares Predator IV
-Defiance EX Shocker
-Flash-pak
-Armor Vest
-Metal Restriants (ie handcuffs)
-Novatech Airware commlink w/ Iris Orb OS
-Subvocal microphone
-DocWagon Gold package

Characters may choose one of the following for free (you don't HAVE to chose any of them, but you don't get anything to replace them in that case):
-LoneStar SWAT cybersuit, Watchman version (Wired reflexes 1, plastic bone lacing, thermographic vision, flare compensation, smartlink, all alphaware) **note** if you want a better version of something, you may subtract the cost of the poorer version. So alphaware wired reflexes 2 would cost 64,000-22,000 or 42,000y.
-40,000y worth of foci or other magical supplies
-40,000y worth of drones
-A ranks of initiation/submersion

Characters should all have the following basic skills (don't make it through the academy without aquiring these):
-Active Skills:
--Pistols 3
--Pilot Ground Vehicle 3
--Unarmed 2
--Athletics Group 1
--Ettiquette(Police) 1
--Computer 1
--Armorer 1
-Knowledge Skills:
--Law 3
--Police Tactics 3
--Police Procedures 3

Knight Errand specific specilizations and/or additional knowledge skills are highly appropriate, but not required.

The team as a whole will have two Chrysler-Nissan Partol-1 vehicles ear-marked for their use, already equiped with a drone rack carrying a Ford LEBD-1 drone. Officially these vehicles can be assigned out to any officer - they aren't 'yours' and so modification or major changes to them are frowned on. Unoffically, the vehicles rarely change hands unless someone quits and many folks have tweaked them - any character who wants to can spend cash to customize if they like.

Datamining, research, and matrix security will generally be handled by assigned support staff, so a pure Matrix character is not recommended. A character with a secondary skill at combat hacking though would be just fine, and a rigger would be as well, of course. At least 1 awakened character who can deal with astral threats is recommended - the paranatural is part of the job description. On the other hand, the team WILL have to opperate in high-background count areas from time to time, so a pure magic team is not recommended. Combat and investigation (both on site like perception and legwork on the streets where a face would do well) skills are generally going to be more important then stealth, though stealth can certainly be an asset. Versitility is the key - feel free to run through concepts with other players before commiting, to insure a balanced team.

Metahumans are fine for characters. Other races will need a good reason, but some will be fairly easy - a pixie or a shapeshifter for example. Others not so much - n infected character will need a VERY convincing background for example. All characters should have SinNER or Records on File: Knight Errand (their choice). No bp for those qualities, I'm afraid.

Additional contact points equal to 2xCha.

Characters must have at least low lifestyle.

Everyone gets the Day Job, level 3 negative quality - no bp for it, I'm afraid.

I'll be taking 4 characters. Bear gets first dibs on a slot, since he was so excited about this idea. The other 3 are up for grabs.

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For the game itself, things will be run a little differently to allow for the different nature of the job. Here are the main changes:

You do not get paid for your missions - your pay is what you get paid for your Day Job trait. (yes, getting raises are possible). Instead you will generally be given a budget to work with. You can pick up just about anything you want with the budget other then 'ware (see below for that), but things that can be returned to the central armory after a job are expected to be returned. You can get unlimited standard ammo without drawing on the budget, but other types need to come out of the budget. Items captured during a mission are generally turned over as evidence, but you can usually get away with asking for a few pieces to keep for use on future missions. Fair warning: there will be scramble missions where you get no budget and no time to draw anything from the armory, and just have to respond with what you have on hand.

Unlike most other pieces of gear, 'ware of all types can't be returned to the armory after a mission is over. Therefor its handled differently - you need to get approval for new 'ware from the higher ups and if they think the investment is worth it, they'll cover the costs. This will be abstracted in game by making it cost karma. I plan on using the following (very rough) pricing system: Cyberware costs avaliability x essence cost x 2 in karma. Bioware costs avaliability x essence cost x 4. Gene and Nanoware cost avaliability x essence cost x 6. These are rough guidelines - I reserve the right to reprice anything to what I feel is balanced (including lowing the price if I feel its warrented). The normal alpha/beta/deltaware modifiers apply to the karma costs as well.

You're cops - the good guys (at least in theory). You are expected to act accordingly - no blowing up random stuff, no shooting bystanders, or even suspects if you can avoid it. Capture, don't kill. Respect private property and corp extra-teritoriality. Make nice with the LoneStar morons who get in your way. Read people their (limited) rights. Etc. Of course, what happens in the neat little world of written regulations and what happens in the real world out in the shadows can be two very different things. After each mission, you will be given one of the following three ratings based not on IF you completed the mission, but HOW you did to (or faill to) complete it: By the Book; Fast and Loose; I AM the Law.

By the Book: You're a good little cop. You did everything the way you should. You recieve full karma and your next mission will be at full budget. This option gives the best offical rewards.

Fast and Loose: You bend the rules. A few may have even started creaking and splintering a little, but none were actaully broken. You get 75% of your normal karma and 75% of the normal budget for the next mission. This option gives the worst awards, but is generally easiest - a bit of bending can help alot and your superiors are generally understanding about that sort of thing and don't hassel you about it.

I AM the Law: You not only didn't read the Book, you burnt it and pissed on the ashes. You do whatever it takes to get the job done, period. You get full karma, 50% budget for your next mission (though hey, you're probably keeping enough goodies back when you 'turn in' evidence that this ain't really hurting you too much), and a heck of a lot of heat from the higher ups -- too many of these rating and this might well turn into a more conventional Shadowrunning game after all.

Ok. Think that it. Will runners please step forward?

O man. Former SWAT sniper, jaded Law and Order style detective, half cocked bombsquad member. The ideas are throwing a rave in my head, and I am all giddy with excitement. I will definitively have to put the gears in motion when I wake up in the morning.

Ohhh, I'd definately be up for this one.

Haven't done anything like this in forever and a day, and it would be nice to run things from the other side for once.

Oh heck yes.
Awakened Investigator archetype, front and center here.

It's Knight Errant, with a 't', just so ya know.

if there is a spot id be up for it... id play some kind of drone rigger/weapons specialist

Since we are a bit more than starting runners, can we get genetic treatments like adapsin and such if we pay for it out of our own funds?
-edit- nvm

Hey Az, question for you.

Would you mind me doing a rework of mouser for the game built within the rules established for this one? I kinda liked the idea once I had it of playing around with a character who had been basically brainwashed to obey mother corp. I could keep em in his present specialty of melee fighting/astral combat rather easily. If that doesn't fly however I'll likely just switch to something else. Figured I'd ask however.

Ok so I have Mouser 2.0 up and reworked for this game. I don't have a BG for him just yet as I still haven't heard back about Az on if I can have the go ahead or not for the concept.

The character is a shapeshifter adept specialized in Astral and Melee combat. Given that Shifters are not considered 'people' in most parts of the world, but wild animals at worst, personal/corporate owned pets at best, I've just gone ahead and worked him up under the assumption that he is effectively as much corporate property as any of his issued gear.

Hey, you think The Knight Errant might have a K-9 unit? If so i think i can whip something up right quick.

I know I am posting in a little late for this, but hopefully either the availability will expand to demand, or there might be a spot left over for me after the dust settles.
Anyway, I promised Durandana that my next character would be a mage with no arms and no legs. I believe that I am still capable of operating a pistol without hands, but it will be extremely interesting trying to figure out the magic tricks to make it happen. If this is interesting, let me know, and I will pull it together. Otherwise, I can put together something more traditional. I like the idea of doing a KE campaign, and the modifications you mentioned are pretty exciting.

Kesslan, Mouser would be fine.

SwimmingEagle/Gala - planning on keeping this limited to 4 people and 4 folks have already stepped up ahead of you. If any of them drop out for any reason though, you guys would get first dips on the opening. Yes, Knight Errant would have a K-9 unit, so such a character would be fine Eagle. While I've no inherint issues with an armless/legless mage Gala, I don't know that this is the right game for it - I suspect Knight Errant would either have cloned replacements grown (which is minimal essence and therefor magic cost) or medically retire you.

That's cool, I can save that one for the next run! In the mean time, what are you missing so far? I will happily fill in the gaps.

Although, you have to admit that 3 sustaining foci, 2 carrying Mage Hands, and one with Levetation, can make an armless and legless mage nearly as effective at nearly everything as someone who has them! Shooting a gun is something of a challenge, which I am still trying to work out in my head, but I am certain that it can be done. The Mage Hand can hold the gun, and pull the trigger. The real issue there is anchoring the gun so that the recoil doesn't cause a 2-way ballistic explosion when the trigger is pulled, and secondarilly, and less importantly, anchoring the gun so that another shot can be taken... Again, I haven't figured that part out yet, but I am certain that it can be done, and it would be quite exciting to go through the motions. That being said, I am perfectly happy to work with something slightly more normal, and save this concept for another run.

While you could counter some of the issues on your own Gala, Az is right. Any security company would either A) not hire you. B) retire you or C) provide you with cloned or cybernetic replacement limbs. There's just too many things you couldn't do otherwise that anyone else could, and the essence loss from cloned limbs would be considered a reasonable trade off by most. Especially as a gesa of some sort could off set said magic loss.

That may or may not be true. However, as much as I enjoy a good argument, Az has spoken. If Az determines that I will be allowed in (since I was somewhat late to the roster), I expect that Az's preference toward my eventual character be somewhat more normal, and I accept the judgement on the matter.

Aye, but a good example is the modern day military. There's been a big push at least in Canada to have all soldiers etc who need glasses to undergo laser eye surgery, with the military even footing the bill for anyone who's presently in the military.

On the flip side of the argument however, there have been a few cases (And at least one recently) where soldiers/sailors with prosthetic limbs have been allowed to continue to serve though in all cases they had to fight for it and prove they could still function as well as anyone else. If I recall correctly the last case I read about was some soldier who lost part of his leg to an IED. That said, said solider was still using one of if not the best available prosthetic leg available.