#at least the others are decked out with attack skills and high tech

[worstloki]

The comedy of brodinsons dragging random cultural biases with them from Asgard is so fun. They should be sexist to people's faces and roll their eyes when anyone says anything about it

[scattered-shadows]

Past-Present-Future Black Dahlia

Two major tragedies bring Lee Mirae closer to the edge as she goes through the stages of grief in a more violent manner that would affect not only her relationships with her boyfriend Jeong Yunho and her half-brother Choi San, but also has her becoming closer with the immortal mutant Kang Yeosang. Fueled by rage, grief, and pain, along with a very rude awakening that has Mirae spiraling out of control and questioning everything she holds dear.

Group: ATEEZ Member: Yunho Pairing: Jeong Yunho / OC Genre: Action, adventure, angst, fantasy

Watch Out! : Violence, blood, death, grief and loss, major character deaths, use of weapons, some jealousy (but no cheating ofc), implied smut (not sure if there is any but i’m putting it out there nonetheless), mental illness (probably?), gambling and alcohol

Anything else? : Mentions of other idols of course as well as other characters. SuperM, Dean, Chanyeol, Zelo, soloist Park Jihoon to name a few.

Author’s Note: First chapter is here! Compared to the previous stories from the AU, this might have very long chapters, like more than 10 pages in google docs long. But anyway, tag list is open, and yeah. Enjoy the first of a rollercoaster of emotions.

This whole first chapter also, is me giving brief backstories of what happened before/backstories of many characters here. Basic plot is mine, characters are not. This is all for fun/entertainment/emotional anguish. 

Masterlist

Chapter 1

When one is at their breaking point, everything begins to change.  The lines between right and wrong are blurred, and one’s moral compass begins to spin into oblivion. 

9:00 p.m. 

Laughter filled the almost empty space of Viva Polo, having closed for the night except for a table occupied by Lee Mirae, Park Chanyeol, and Kwon Hyuk. The rest of the tables had already been overturned, marking the end of another day at work, at least for Chanyeol. The three of them had a tradition of meeting up every week, something they started doing after the previous adventures they had. 

The three of them were mutants, and to their knowledge, they were the last surviving members of the group that saved the country, if not the world during the Seoul attack. A year after that, the three of them found each other again, reuniting to save the country once again from an evil cult bent on achieving utopia through taking control of its citizens. Two adventures that had major consequences on the three of them, and events that they will forever remember. 

Two of them, Mirae and Hyuk, were classified as omega-level or level 5 mutants, with powers that were impossible to surpass by any other mutant thus far. Mirae was not only gifted in a mastery of hand-to-hand combat, both armed and unarmed, but she had the gift of manipulating potential energy into kinetic energy. She could turn virtually any object into an explosive and if channeled to an extreme extent, was able to level a skyscraper. 

With her abilities came the secondary gift of a healing factor that made her almost immortal and slowed down her aging immensely. Because of her ability to manipulate energy, she was also able to generate static that resulted in a very strong psychic block that was only made stronger by another omega-level mutant, Jang Ino. From the adventures she had on her own and even after the Utopian cult, another ability manifested itself in her; taking souls and trapping them into objects, usually her deck of cards. 

Meanwhile, Kwon Hyuk, a well-known music producer and songwriter, was a level 5 telekinetic and could move anything with his mind. His psychic abilities also gave him the gift of producing shields that were almost impenetrable. 

 In their adventure into the Utopian cult, Hyuk developed his telepathic abilities, which he used to extract memories or read into memories of others. Hyuk was nearly captured by the goons from the Utopian cult when they met again, and has since tried to use his powers as discreetly as possible with some difficulty. 

Hyuk didn’t formally join Mirae and Chanyeol until the later days of the Seoul attack, having laid low, undiscovered by Ino who was at the time, serving his father Professor Inhwan Jang. Hyuk had openly used his powers in front of the group during a time when Mirae and one of her other colleagues, a telekinetic named Luhan, were affected by the goblin king’s inducement of traumatic memories that caused their powers to manifest for the first time. 

It was there that Hyuk realized that he could do so much more with his mutant gifts, rather than use them solely for trivial purposes.

Hyuk had a cousin, the singer Lee Midam, who was under his entertainment agency, in the 10-member group called Silver. Midam was, like him, a psychic, but of a different kind. Midam was a psychic that could make the worst fears or strongest desires of another person come to life before them. Midam also had the ability to sense when a person will die in the near future. 

Park Chanyeol was a level 4 pyrokinetic, also known as an alpha-level mutant. He created and manipulated fire in all its aspects, from turning into a fire being to being able to put out and set fire onto virtually anything. In his fire form, he was granted the ability to fly and heal and even out of his fire form, Chanyeol could withstand extreme heat. 

He worked with Mirae in the Center for Paranormal Research upon his discovery by Ino, leaving his work in his mother’s Italian restaurant behind to find purpose for his abilities. For some time after the Seoul attack, Chanyeol thought he was the only one left, until he was seen by another survivor, their tech guy Choi Junhong, looking over the remains of what used to be the Center, the epicenter of the entire attack. 

From the adventures they had, the three of them still managed to continue with their lives. Hyuk stayed in his agency to work on music, Chanyeol helped around his parents’ restaurant and live club, while Mirae ran the music store that she took ownership in after the passing of her adoptive parents. Hyuk and Chanyeol also helped other mutants like them, Mirae’s old colleagues from her days as an assassin under a sanitarium, practice controlling their powers. 

With the way the events of the past years shaped them, their lives would forever be intertwined and they knew it. Even with the disagreements that occurred in the final days of the Seoul attack, with the three of them being the only survivors from that group that acted, they were like family to each other. 

“One of these days, we’ll go on a mission, do something, just the three of us again,” Chanyeol said fondly, finishing the last slice of pizza from his place. 

“Even if we don’t go on something like that, we should still do something, just the three of us,” Mirae repeated with a grin. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” 

“Yeah, someone needs to watch your back this time, you nearly got your powers taken away,” Hyuk pointed out, taking a sip of his iced tea. 

The last adventure Mirae went on involved a demon and their followers, the one responsible for a long-running conspiracy that went behind the glitz and glamour of the country’s entertainment industry. Mirae was outmatched and captured, her powers being used to channel the summoning of the demon Ose. It left her boyfriend Yunho and her half-brother San, along with her old colleagues including immortal mutant billionaire Kang Yeosang, to be the ones to save her and the world. 

Mirae shook her head. “It was only one time. Just one. But I’m starting to think I’m losing my touch, to be honest,” She looked down at her now-empty plate. 

“I wouldn’t think of it that way if I were you,” Hyuk patted her shoulder. “You still have your powers, don’t you? Didn’t Junhong say your powers only got stronger after that? You’re practically invincible.” 

“Says the person who is also practically invincible,” Mirae grinned. 

“But I don’t heal like you do. Chanyeol doesn’t even heal like you unless he sets himself on fire.” 

“Can you stop talking about injuries now? I think we’ll be late for that training session both of you promised the guys,” Mirae nudged the telekinetic. 

Chanyeol got up at the mention of the training session. All of their plates floating in mid-air, the cutlery and glasses sorting themselves out, as Hyuk followed the taller male into the kitchen, making sure nothing dropped. Mirae smiled to herself as she removed the tablecloth and the napkins. 

The boys at the safehouse would be waiting for them, San and Yunho included. Choi San was her half-brother, and had almost the same abilities as her, including her healing factor and a mastery of martial arts. Unlike Mirae, who channeled her powers mainly through her extendable staff, San channeled his into a harpoon gun. 

San’s powers first manifested in his high school years, as a result of the constant pressure placed on him by their father, who wanted him to pursue a career he himself wanted. Upon learning how to control his abilities better, San ran away from home, eventually learning the skills he knew to become a paid hitman. San also witnessed Mirae getting taken away to be interned at the sanitarium, and he looked everywhere for her.

Jeong Yunho was Mirae’s boyfriend. Yunho was also like her, skilled in hand-to-hand combat, both unarmed and armed. Yunho was also a mutant, an immortal mutant who possessed the ability to teleport, but could only do so in dark places. 

Yunho’s powers manifested when he was killed in Morocco during what would be Mirae’s final mission before she was discharged. Her memories of him were seemingly erased in the final electroshock therapy session used to alter her recollection of missions. They only found each other again when Mirae was being targeted by the Kang crime family, descendants of Yeosang who held a disdain for mutants. 

Hyuk returned from the kitchen. “What’s that smile about?” He asked. 

“Nothing, nothing, I just realized how it’s been a while since we did something like this together,” Mirae replied. 

“Lee Mirae, you’re getting sappy.” 

“Did I lie?” She laughed. 

“No, but that’s weird of you,” Hyuk laughed as well. “I mean you are right. I’ve been busy practically managing the group, Chanyeol’s busy here, we’re just busy living our lives.” 

“My point stands that we’ve never done anything together in a while, unless those goblins come up again and try to kill us,” Mirae joked. 

“Hopefully not,” Said the psychic, the table in front of them turning itself over on top of another table. “Even with the way things ended back then, I’m glad the three of us found each other.” 

The kitchen doors opened and Chanyeol returned, wiping his hands, with his backpack in tow. “Whose car are we using?” He asked. 

Without another word, the three of them extended their fists. Both Mirae and Chanyeol had scissors, while Hyuk’s hand remained curled into a fist. “Guess it’s yours then, Mr. Psychic,” Mirae grinned. 

“Be glad I stopped for gas before coming here,” He gave them a look as they left the restaurant. 

~ 

The car pulled up in front of a brick-walled building that had a vending machine. It was the entrance to the safehouse that now became the headquarters of everything mutant-related. It was also where Mirae’s old colleagues were now staying, with the exception of two; Jung Wooyoung and Park Seonghwa. 

The three of them got out, sensing the slight change in the air as they approached the machine. They knew there was a sort of cloaking over the spot that shielded anyone from seeing that the vending machine moved to the side to reveal a secret passage. Chanyeol, Mirae, and Hyuk entered the dark passageway and stopped at the red door at the very end. 

The safehouse was similarly modeled to the recreation room in the Center for Paranormal Research, with a couch and beanbags surrounding a flat-screen television and several game consoles. There was a sleeping quarters and a shower area and a kitchen that was only stocked with instant food. Ino and Junhong’s labs and offices were in the two other doors in the kitchen area that had a small dining table where they would at least take turns in eating. 

This time, the safehouse had since expanded thanks to Ino’s ability to manipulate matter. Junhong’s lab was much bigger, more beds were added to the sleeping quarters, and there was a small training room that Junhong fortified. A shelf was behind the television, showing all the weapons carried by the group of men who now resided in the place; a rapier, a set of nunchaku, and a few axes and shurikens. Those belonged to three people: Kim Hongjoong, Choi Jongho, and Song Mingi. 

All of them were trained assassins, skilled in hand-to-hand combat both unarmed and armed. While Mirae and Yunho were no longer part of the group, the remaining members were turned into personal guards of the Kang crime family and underwent several experiments to turn them into super soldiers. All of them were impervious to pain and were a lot more agile in their movements. 

It was those experiments that triggered the mutant gene in each of them, their own mutant abilities manifesting around the same time. Hongjoong possessed superhuman speed and could be as fast as the speed of light that also enabled him to heal if wounded. Seonghwa was a telekinetic, whose powers also made itself known if his eyes and fingertips glowed green. Mingi, like Chanyeol, was also a pyrokinetic, but unlike Chanyeol, could only manipulate flames that already exist. 

Wooyoung on the other hand, possessed the ability to turn into a shadow being. His shadow form allowed him to be intangible, as well as give him superhuman strength and a healing factor. But along with his shadow form, Wooyoung developed a kind of extrasensory perception, where he could see past and future events from a person or an object, or even a name. 

Jongho had the painful ability to manipulate his bone structure, and his arms and legs would produce a sharp spike that could pierce anything. 

They immediately noticed that a few other weapons were shelved, as they were likely in the labs or in the training room; a set of sai, katanas, a bow and a quiver full of arrows, and the harpoon gun. Everyone was indeed present. 

“Hello?” Hyuk called out as they closed the door behind them. 

“We’re here!” Chanyeol called out as well. 

“Yunho? San?” Mirae spoke, looking around the empty living room. 

Suddenly materializing in front of them was Ino. “Good! You’re all here! The rest of them are in the training rooms, but can you wait a little bit? There’s something I’m finishing and I hope the three of you can test it out for me,” He said. 

Jang Ino was a prime example of a true omega-level mutant, with abilities so powerful he was almost like a god. Ino had the gift of manipulating matter, inter-dimensional teleportation, telekinesis, telepathy, duplication with sentient clones, intangibility, precognition as well as the ability to see everything as it happened. Ino’s abilities manifested much later than the rest of them despite not being much older than Chanyeol, Hyuk, and Mirae, and thus had more difficulty trying to control each of his abilities. 

“Really? What is it?” Mirae asked as Chanyeol put down his backpack while she put down her staff. 

Ino looked excited. “Another training room, or…?” 

“Another Danger Room,” Hyuk nodded. “Can it not turn into a vortex manipulator again?” 

“I can’t promise that, but it’s as safe as ever, right? Just like old times,” Ino was beaming. “Ah, well, you might as well see it for yourself. I’ll call the rest of them,” and he disappeared. 

“Are we supposed to wait for them here?” Chanyeol glanced at them, and they shrugged. 

A commotion erupted from the door that was Junhong’s lab, making them turn around. “For a telekinetic, you could’ve aimed better! You could’ve killed me!” Hongjoong appeared, shooting Seonghwa a look. 

“You sped away in time! You knew it wasn’t going to reach you anyway!” Seonghwa argued back. 

“Well I wasn’t able to, not when Mingi keeps playing with that lighter of his! It’s like having to pass by a dragon each time I’m next to him.” 

“So your situation is actually my fault, is that what you’re saying?” Mingi spoke, looking at them incredulously. “I was practicing my pyrokinesis the way Chanyeol hyung showed me, right, San?”

“Stop including me!” said the male who had a visible white streak in his hair similar to Mirae’s. 

“This was a department store-bought shirt and Jongho just had to ruin it!” Wooyoung shrieked, pointing to the tears in his sleeve. 

“Welcome to my world, Wooyoung! Live with it!” Jongho shot back.

“At least I don’t have spikes coming out of my sleeves and pants!”

Chanyeol and Mirae exchanged looks. Hyuk stifled a laugh. “Kind of reminds you how much we bickered back then, huh? I bet those guys would’ve loved to see a repeat of this,” He chuckled. 

“Nothing seems to have changed after all,” Mirae laughed, their reactions making the group stop in their tracks. “We just had dinner,” She explained. “I see training’s been going well?” 

“Not so much when the rest of them bicker more than San and I do,” out of the group came Yunho, who immediately swept her up in a hug then exchanged high fives with Hyuk and Chanyeol as he pulled away. 

The taller form of Junhong appeared from the crowd as well, with scorch marks on his lab coat and a hole in his clipboard. Ino had materialized again as well. “So, the Danger Room, Junhong?” Hyuk asked. 

“Yes, yes, the Danger Room,” Junhong led them to the pair of doors on the other side of the space. He pushed the button, the doors opening up to reveal a dark room covered in what looked like steel tiles. There was a panel of buttons near the doors from the inside and on one side of the room, was a booth. “Ta-da!” He announced, looking over at the three of them, while the rest looked amazed. 

“A little shift in elements here and there, I was able to expand this entire space of ours, make it a little more familiar, don’t you think?” Ino smiled. 

Mirae approached the panel of buttons near the side. “Ice fortress, dystopia, post-apocalypse, zombie invasion, alien invasion, gladiator arena,” She read out. Mirae turned to the next set of buttons and looked over at Junhong. “Why is my name at the top of this panel? Am I a level of difficulty?” She asked, looking puzzled. 

“The highest,” Ino spoke. “But that level’s reserved for the three of you, not that these guys can’t do it, but the three of you are more experienced.” 

“San and Yunho are just as experienced, if you ask me,” Mirae pointed out with a shrug, choosing not to argue any more. 

“Yes, but they’ve never been through the same missions as you and Chanyeol did back at the Center, remember?” Ino reminded her. “The creatures at the museum, the goblin warriors at the train station, and their throne room, and the jewelry store at night?” 

“I remember the jewelry store one,” Hyuk said, glancing at her. “We were coming from dinner when the store exploded. It was the time I found out Mirae was a mutant.” 

Mirae smiled at her friend’s recollection. “Yeah, you came from that singing competition too.” 

Chanyeol grinned. “The train station, I remember that well. Everyone hated us when they saw what was happening in broad daylight. Junmyeon got hot coffee thrown at him...” He looked down the more he remembered. 

Ino noticed Wooyoung squinting at him, the rest of them looking fascinated by their brief trip down memory lane. “Well, I thought I’d show the rest of them how the three of you would do things in these simulations. Hyuk, I know you joined us late at the time, but you still know a thing or two on how to handle non-human entities, right?” He said. 

“Oh yeah, I was with you all at the Esteholm,” Hyuk smiled. Sensing everyone else’s confused expressions, he chuckled. “It’s a hidden marketplace for non-humans, goblins, witches, warlocks, ogres…” 

“You mean those things were actually here all this time?! On this planet?!” Mingi gaped at him and they nodded. 

“Okay, okay, we’ll have a lot of time to talk about that later, but let’s have the three of you take this new Danger Room for a test run?” Ino suggested. “The rest of you follow Junhong into the booth, we’ll all watch from there.” 

“What are we taking on?” Mirae asked. 

Hyuk approached the panels. “What about…” He stopped when he read the mode at the bottom. “Evil villain mansion? What kind of mode is that?” He laughed. 

Chanyeol and Mirae laughed as well. Mirae glanced at the booth, giving a thumbs up to Yunho and San, who looked excited as did the rest of them. “It’s exactly what it is. The mansion of the bad guy,” Junhong said from the booth. 

“Alright then, put up the difficulty rate to my name, I guess,” Mirae said. 

“That’s what I had in mind. Initializing evil villain mansion, Lee Mirae difficulty,” Junhong announced. 

Hyuk backed away, until he was back to back with Chanyeol and Mirae. They heard tiles shifting and a swirling of colors all around them, bringing in a strong gust of wind. Mirae took out her staff from her jacket pocket and extended it. After a few moments, the swirling was disappearing, and they found themselves in what was the ballroom of a large, abandoned house that had some bits of modern technology on the locks of the doors and the windows. 

“Okay, so this is the evil villain mansion,” Chanyeol mumbled as they took in their surroundings. “Where’s the evil villain, then?” 

Mirae took a step forward, seeing two metal circles near the large fireplace. There was a seven-pointed star engraved on one circle, a hexagon that had the shape of a keyhole in the middle engraved on the other. The circles began to turn, until it slowly went up to reveal coffin-shaped tubes. 

“This is oddly specific,” She muttered. 

Hyuk and Chanyeol stared at the tubes as well. The closer they looked, they saw bodies, blackened and as if they had been mummified. “This is very specific,” Chanyeol nodded, feeling a chill down his spine as they approached the tubes. 

Back at the booth, the rest of them stared at what was happening. “Can they see us?” Jongho asked curiously. 

“I don’t think they can, can they?” Hongjoong glanced at Junhong, who was looking at the panels of controls. “But the surroundings look so real.” 

“I know I should be used to this, but this is something I’ve never seen before…” San was staring at the tubes that were opening up in front of the three. 

“Me neither, and I thought I’ve seen everything,” Yunho nodded. 

From the side of the room, Wooyoung could suddenly see flashes of scenes in his head. He looked back at what was happening, seeing Hyuk, Mirae, and Chanyeol nearly destroy the surroundings they were in as humanoid demons with large talons began to attack them. The flashes kept coming. He could see people he hadn’t seen before having been inside the very booth they were in. Yet, Wooyoung wasn’t sure if this had already happened or it was about to happen. He stayed watching the simulation that Mirae, Hyuk, and Chanyeol were in. 

~ 

“Kind of familiar, isn’t it? The train station,” Mirae’s eyes and fingertips were glowing as she sent shockwaves towards the two demons, but to no avail. Instead, the demons clapped their hands, sending similar shockwaves towards her. “They’re parrots.” 

“What do you mean parrots?” Chanyeol had transformed into his fire form, dodging the attacks that were coming towards him. 

“They’re copying everything we do,” Mirae spun her staff a few times before hitting the demon, only to be sent back by the other, who had turned into a fiery figure as well. 

“Can they copy this?” Hyuk waved his hand, sending the two demons in mid-air. His eyes widened when the figure also raised their claws at him, lifting him up and off the floor. “This is impossible-” He crashed into the wall, moving away when some of the decor fell down. 

“Looks like Junhong had his work cut out for him,” Chanyeol tried to burn down the doors of the room until the surroundings changed into what looked like a massive dock full of zeppelins and tables full of volatile chemicals in test tubes and beakers. “Yeah, now I can see why Mirae turned into a level of difficulty.” 

“Let’s try not to touch anything, or interact with anything on those tables,” Mirae looked around on alert. 

They heard a blast from all the way on the other side of the room. “Looks like they found us,” Hyuk said, trying to move the zeppelins as carefully as possible towards the source of the blasts. 

“Those might explode if you let them get blasted,” Chanyeol called out at the telekinetic. 

“Would you rather we get out of here with those? We don’t even know what to use these for” Hyuk pointed out, still trying to move the airships as the blasts grew louder, the impact exploding the tables closest to it. “At least they get blasted and we don’t-” 

Boom. 

There was a blast on their side of the dock, sending the three of them to the floor, as bits of shrapnel and the chemicals on the tables exploded. A large cloud of smoke enveloped them, soon revealing that they were no longer at the dock. They were back in the Danger Room, or at least what was left of the Danger Room.

Mirae opened her eyes, feeling considerably beaten as she looked around, surprised at what she was seeing. Her clothes were scorched, her staff was gone, and from the gust of wind that hit her, she realized what happened. 

The safehouse seemed to have exploded. 

Mirae looked around for a sign of Chanyeol and Hyuk. Was she still in the simulation? “Mirae! Mirae! Mirae! Are you alright?” She turned around, seeing Junhong, Yunho, and Hongjoong run up to her. “The machines overloaded when I was about to take you three out of there,” The tech guy explained. 

She nodded, a feeling of dread suddenly overcoming her as she looked around the area. “Chanyeol? Hyuk?” She called out, kicking away a few bits and pieces of the rubble that surrounded them. “Chanyeol-” She stopped, feeling her heart sink. 

Chanyeol was lying on the floor, a puddle of blood near his head, and bits of shrapnel having hit his sides. Mirae looked around for a sign of the telekinetic, only to realize that he was also lying on the floor, eyes glazed over. A piece of shrapnel hit his head.

“Chanyeol, Hyuk,” Mirae bent down, moving the rubble away from her best friends. She refused to believe it, refused to think that what happened really happened. “Chanyeol, Hyuk,” She took one of the sharp rocks and cut open her wrist, pouring some of the blood into where Chanyeol was hit. “Come on, both of you, this isn’t funny,” She saw that they weren’t moving while her wrist had already healed. 

Junhong bent down to check Hyuk’s pulse, only for his expression to fall when he realized there was none. “Mirae,” He tried to say. 

“No, I know what you’re going to say, and I don’t believe you,” Mirae shook her head profusely, crawling up to Hyuk. Tears were already falling from her eyes as the reality was hitting her bit by bit. “No, no, this can’t happen, not here, not now, no,” She patted his face, but no response. “No, Hyuk, no, don’t, please-” A sob escaped her as she held his body. “Hyuk, no, no, no, no, no,” She sobbed, reaching out to hold Chanyeol’s hand that was going cold. “No, please no, Chanyeol, Hyuk, you two can stop it now, please…” 

“Mirae,” Junhong said again. 

Hongjoong and Yunho exchanged looks, hearing the rest of their colleagues including San appear, all of them had traces of the smoke from the explosion on them. 

“No!” Mirae shook her head again, until she broke down. They were gone. Her best friends. Gone.

[thebudgetgarden]

The Budget Garden 1: Maiden of Stand Peony (V-Premium)

Hello Cardfighters, I wanted to begin this budget deck series with a deck that is very near and dear to my heart, as it is a deck that is a part of my favorite clan, Neo Nectar, but that is also a deck that can be created with less than 20 euros, or even less depending on how cheap you can find the main boss units of this deck.  Maiden of Stand Peony is a deck that rewards aggressive plays and board advantage, and as such, even though it’s a very cheap deck, it’s a deck that can steal wins even from the strongest decks in the current meta landscape. 

We will begin by discussing the Grade 3 line-up, as well as what choices one can make to make their deck a tad bit more personalized.

This is our main boss unit, Maiden of Stand Peony, and she has the following skill: [AUTO](VC/RC):When placed, call up to one Plant token to (RC). If this unit is on (VC), call up to two Plant tokens instead of one. (Plant tokens are grade 0/[Power]5000/[Critical]1 and have boost) [AUTO](VC):When it attacks, COST [Counter Blast (1) & retire four rear-guards], call four plant tokens to your (RC), and if your opponent's vanguard is grade 3 or greater, this unit and all of your token units get [Power]+10000 until end of turn. Maiden of Stand Peony is a deck that produces board advantage through tokens, while also being a multi-attack engine that gives power to herself and all of her token friends while your opponent’s vanguard is grade 3 or greater. That restriction, however, doesn’t mean that she’s completely useless as a first ride, as putting a force 1 marker on your leftmost or rightmost R circle means that that particular column will hit for 20k, twice, in the worst case scenario.  Maiden of Stand Peony is the main moving piece of this deck, so playing 4 copies of her in your deck is paramount to your deck’s success. Right now, Maiden of Stand Peony will set you back at about 6 euros for a playset. Now, a cardfighter that is familiarized with Peony’s mechanics might choose to just play just 4 copies of her for the entire grade 3 line-up. However, other players might choose to run some back-up grade 3′s for extra power, so these next few choices are for them.

Maiden of Iceberg is a very cheap and strong back-up grade 3 unit, and she has the following skill: [AUTO](VC/RC):When placed, COST [Counter Blast (1) & Soul Blast (1)], call up to two plant tokens to (RC), and this unit gets [Power]+5000 until end of turn for each of your plant tokens. (Plant tokens are grade 0/[Power]5000/[Critical]1 and have boost) More tokens and more power, that is the name of the game in this deck, and Maiden of Iceberg is an excellent candidate for this deck. First and foremost, she is an amazing unit to use in conjunction with force 2, as she is always going to be getting at least 15k-20k power with her own skill, making her especially potent in matchups where getting your opponent’s damage count very high is vital to finish the game off.  Maiden of Iceberg is also exceedingly cheap, as she’s only gonna set you back 0.80 cents for an entire playset.  These 2 grade 3 units might be enough for most cardfighters to build a solid base for the grade 3 line-up, however I’m going to mention a few more cheap options for the players that wanna go a bit beyond. While these options are a great addition to the deck, they usually fall under the category of tech choices, rather than staple cards that you need to play.  The 2 grade 3 units in this category are the following: 

Maiden of the Trailing rose, who has the following effect:  [AUTO](VC/RC):When placed, call up to one plant token to (RC). If this unit is on (VC), call up to two plant tokens instead of one. (Plant tokens are grade 0/[Power]5000/[Critical]1 and have boost) [ACT](VC)1/Turn:COST [Soul Blast (1)], and three of your plant tokens get [Power]+5000 until end of turn.

And last but certainly not least, Maiden of Protea, who has this very unique following effect:

[ACT](RC):COST [Retire this unit], and

call

up to three plant tokens to (RC).

(Plant tokens are grade 0/[Power]5000/[Critical]1 and have boost)

Maiden of Trailing Rose is the first of the Neo Nectar clan, and it shows. Not only is she a powerful Vanguard unit that generates tokens on both the v and the r circles, but her secondary skill allows her to power-up three of your plant tokens, adding a very nice 15k of total power to your board for a single soul blast. 

Maiden of Trailing Rose is an excellent addition for the Cardfighters that feel like they want another boss unit in their deck. If that is the case, Maiden of Trailing Rose is an excellent addition, as it works very well as a first ride target, allowing for magic numbers to be hit from all columns. If you want her to be a part of your deck, she is going to set you back at about 3.25-4.00 euros.

Maiden of Protea is an odd-ball in this line-up. While she was initially noted for her very cute design, she is one of the few Neo Nectar units that saw almost no expermentation. That is because of her unique design. With the advent of Order Cards in the new Vanguard format, Overdress, cards that get used just once for a great effect aren’t that weird, at least not anymore. Maiden of Protea is a unit that doubles as an order, that allows you to get a board full of tokens for no cost whatsoever, apart from retiring herself. 

Maiden of Protea is a very unique addition to the deck’s lineup, and I implore the Cardfighters that will experiment with this deck to try her out. Being an over-looked common card, she wont set you back more than 0.40 cents, at most. 

There are many many more points to be made about the grade 3 line-up, but if your budget allows you to add more expensive cards, replace Maiden of Iceberg and Maiden of Protea with any number of Cornflower Flower Maiden, Ines and Arboros Dragon, Sephirot. These cards are more expensive but they are also the next step to building the competitive version of this deck. 

The grade 2 line-up is also interesting, being a mix of massive power increases, as well as a lot of utility for those who find that they do not have enough value generation in their deck.

We are going to begin with a few choices that turn your token units into cards in your hand, allowing you to survive into the late game and outvalue your opponent in both hand and board advantage. We have three main candidates for this list, as the space for the grade 2 slots is quite tight. 

Those three card-draw connaisseurs are the following: 

Spiritual Tree Sage, Irminsul, a card with the following effect:  [AUTO](RC):When placed, if you have two or more grade 0 rear-guards, COST [Counter Blast (1)], draw a card, and all of your units in the same column as this unit get [Power]+5000 until end of turn. Simply put, Irminsul is excellent. He is a card that has a very easy time fullfilling his condition, and an even easier time giving a column a total of 10k power, as well as a draw, all for the cost of a counter-blast. Irminsul is great for grade 2 rushing, pushing the power level of boards, turning your generations into advantage, as well as allowing for a single column to demand a 20k shield block out of your opponent. In my opinion, Irminsul is a must and should be run at 3-4 copies, which are gonna set you back at less than 1 euro.  Our second candidate, the stunning and beautiful Maiden of Nepenthes, and she has the following effect:

(excuse me for the japanese text, the effect is translated properly.) [ACT](VC/RC)1/Turn:COST [Retire a plant token], draw a card, and until end of turn, this unit gets "Boost", and [Power]+5000. [AUTO](RC):When it boosts a grade 3 rear-guard, you may have the boosted unit get [Critical]+1 until end of that battle. If you do, at the end of that battle, put this unit into your soul. Maiden of Nepenthes follows the exact notion of what this deck can do when faced with a slower, card advantage-based value deck, something along the lines of Megacolony or Oracle Think Tank. This maiden is unique, as she literally turns a token into a card in your hand, but she doesn’t reduce the overall power that is present on the board, effectively giving you advantage for no cost whatsoever. The secondary skill is a bit tougher to use effectively in this deck, but if you’re willing to stick with Neo Nectar in the long run, she has also seen play in Ahsha, which is the most popular Neo Nectar build, as of now. A full playset of her is gonna cost you about 2 euros, and I think that she’s a great card to run at 2 or 3 copies.  The last card in this section that requires a bit of our attention is Maiden of fall Vine, a very unique card which has the following effect: 

[AUTO](RC):When placed from hand to the (RC) with a plant token, draw a card, and this unit get [Power]+5000 until end of turn.  Talk about a unique effect ! Maiden of fall vine is one of those few cases where game mechanics and card interaction is specifically stated on the card text, so some new players may be initially confused. She needs to be called on an R circle that already has a pre-existing plant token unit on it, in which case she will inherit the power of said token, as well as replenish a card in your hand. You might notice a lot of similarities with Maiden of Nepenthes, and you would be 100% correct, however, Fall Vine is usually more favored as she is less restrictive and more cost-effective, allowing for a wider range of plays and combos to be made with her. Maiden of fall vine is a card that is integral to our strategy, therefore it needs to be a 4-of in our deck. She is also going to set you back about 3-4 euros, although she can be found for much cheaper online.  These grade 2 units are very powerful, and should be present in any token-based deck so that they may turn the board advantage that is provided by most Neo Nectar units into hand advantage. However, we have a few more miscallenious grade 2 units that need a quick look-over, those being:  Bad Boy, Walgackey, a grade 2 unit that has a very familiar effect, which reads: 

[ACT](RC):COST [Retire this unit], and call up to two plant tokens to (RC). (Plant tokens are grade 0/[Power]5000/[Critical]1 and have boost) Maiden of Protea’s son has turned out to be quite the bad apple, but he can still be very useful in our deck. Retiring himself for 2 token units basically fullfills the entire condition of Irminsul, sets us up for Maiden of Fall Vine, and also further assists with Maiden of Nepenthes. A card with a simple effect that complements our entire deck. Walgackey is a flex slot, meaning that he’s not necessary, but he is a very cheap card, which is only gonna set you back about 0.40 cents for a playset,  However, grade 2 units can also bring the pain with very high numbers, which is the unique case of Lily of the Valley Musketeer, Kaivant, who has the following effect:

[AUTO](RC):When placed, this unit gets [Power]+5000 until end of turn for each of your grade 0 rear-guards. Apart from being near and dear to my heart, as he is a part of my favorite deck ever, the Musketeers, Kaivan is just an all-around excellent attacker for the Neo Nectar clan. Just like Maiden of Iceberg, Kaivant gets a nice 5k boost for each of your token units. In many board states kaivant gets a massive 20k attack boost just by being called from your hand. Kaivant is also only 20 cents, so an entire playset will not cost you more than 1 euro.  For the non budget options, as well as a few more unique card choices the cards I would recommend are the following: Pansy Musketeer, Sylvia, Osmanthus Maiden, Anelma, Maiden of Fine Ale

[AUTO](VC/RC):When placed, you may call a plant token to (RC). (Plant tokens are grade 0/[Power]5000/[Critical]1 and have boost)

[AUTO](VC/RC):When placed, COST [Counter Blast (1) & Soul Blast (1)], draw a card, and call up to one Plant token to (RC). (Plant tokens are grade 0/[Power]5000/[Critical]1 and have boost) [CONT](RC):If you have a rear-guard on your (RC) with the same card name as your grade 3 or greater vanguard, all of your units get "Boost".

[ACT](RC):COST [Counter Blast (1) & Retire this unit], look at three cards from the top of your deck, call up to two cards from among them to (RC), and put the rest on the bottom of your deck in any order. All of these choices bring some unique elements to this deck. Sylvia is an unconditional token summon, which is excellent for rushing and value plays, while Anelma requires both a counter blast and a soul blast to give you a card that both gives you a token and a card in your hand, both of which are excellent effects. Maiden of Fine Ale is an option that a few select lists run, as it turns herself into one of your high-value and low cost units, as well as thinning out the deck a tiny bit.  The grade 2 units are an integral part of every single Neo Nectar deck, as the majority of grade 2 Neo Nectar units are amazing cards both in conjuction with other cards and just by themselves. 

Moving forward, we have some very nice options for our grade 1 units, as the Neo Nectar grade 1 units are known for being power-houses in the early phases of the game.

We begin our grade 1 escapades with the most vital units of the deck, which are going to be 2 very high power grade 1 units that will give us value, and close out the game for us, those being Maiden of Flower Carpet and Maiden of Dream Shower. 

[AUTO](VC/RC):When placed, you may call a Plant token to (RC). (Plant tokens are grade 0/[Power]5000/[Critical]1 and have boost) [AUTO](Drop Zone):At the end of your turn, COST [retire two Plant tokens], and return this card to your hand. This ability may only be used by a card with the same card name once a turn.

[AUTO](RC):When placed, if your vanguard is grade 3 or greater, COST [Counter Blast (1)], and all of your token units on (RC) get [Power]+10000 until end of turn.  Wow. Where to begin with both of these units? They are both quite excellent at what they do, but let’s begin with the more unique out of the pair, Maiden of Flower carpet. Flower Carpet is, by far, the best grade 1 Neo Nectar unit, as the token generation works on both V and R circles, it is unconditional with no cost, and she recycles herself by retiring 2 token units, effectively turning 2 useless units, that have little to no usage on your opponent’s turn into a 10k shield blocker, that can also be used for even more value next turn. She is a tiny bit pricier than the rest of the cards at about 4 euros for a playset, but it is well worth it for such an effect.  Maiden of Dream Shower is a win condition, plain and simple. Her effect has a few caveats, requiring both a counter blast and your vanguard being a grade 3 unit. However, the power she provides is game-winning. She is a card that, in many cases, with provide a whopping 40k power on your board, and paired with multiple copies she mades even your weak initial attacks before Peony’s skill quite deadly. She pairs fabulously with force 2, and in many circumstances she can blow your opponent out of the game. A glass cannon, to be sure, but a cannon nontheless. She is also exceedingly cheap, a common that is 10 cents per copy.  Our Grade 1 line-up continues to impress with our next few entries, as we take a look at 3 more token generators, as well as a very unique board buff. Our token generators are: Fruits Basket Elf, Maiden of Sweet Berry, and blowball squire.

[AUTO](VC/RC):When placed, call up to one Plant token to (RC), and if your vanguard is grade 3 or greater, Soul Charge (1). [CONT](RC):During your turn, if your vanguard is grade 3 or greater, this unit gets [Power]+5000.

[AUTO](RC):When placed, if you have no plant tokens, call up to two plant tokens to (RC). (Plant tokens are grade 0/[Power]5000/[Critical]1 and have boost)

[ACT](RC):COST [Soul Blast (1) & retire this unit], call up to two plant tokens to (RC), and if your vanguard is grade 3 or greater, those plant tokens get [Power]+5000 until end of turn. (Plant tokens are grade 0/[Power]5000/[Critical]1 and have boost) There is not a lot to be said here, Cardfighters. What you see is what you get, cheap, strong, easy to use token generation, with some different varieties of spice. Blowball is a very unique sort of token generation, being insanely strong but only really being “active” on the first few turns of the game. Maiden of sweet berry is an excellent booster and a soul charge engine. Fruits basket is 2 tokens, as well as a nice power boost for said tokens. All of these cards have merit, however In the example list that is going to be provided, Fruits Basket Elf is the card that I have decided to run. All of these cards are excellent for what they do, and they are gonna set you back at about the same price, 20 cents for a copy. 

General overview of the deck, example decklist.

I truly do believe that Maiden of Stand Peony is one of the strongest Budget decks that you can make for a very low price. We haven’t even scratched the surface of what you can do with this deck, and I have neglected to mention quite a few options for all of the grades, as the ones that I mention are both a combination of being very cheap and very affordable.

I will showcase the list that I am currently using, which cost me less than 20 euros. 

Grade 3 

4x Maiden of Stand Peony

2x Maiden of Protea

Grade 2

4x Maiden of Fall Vine 

4x Spiritual Tree Sage, Irminsul

2x Lily of the Valley Musketeer, Kaivant

2x Maiden of Nepenthes 

3x Bad Boy, Walgackey 

Grade 1

4x Maiden of Dream Shower

4x Fruits Basket Elf

4x Maiden of Flower Carpet

Grade 0

1 Starter

8 Critical Triggers

4 Heal Triggers

4 Draw Triggers (Perfect guards)

This is a very basic list that is easy to pick up, easy to play and very very fun. Not to mention that once you learn how to use the deck effectively, you can steal wins off of very powerful decks.

Closing thoughts and special thanks. 

Thank you all for reading, especially if you have read this far. Sharing my thoughts and deck ideas with you guys has been proven to be great fun, and I would love to hear any constructive criticism about the formatting, any ideas that you may have or any Deck Recommendations that you might have for me. If you do, or you just want someone to talk vanguard with, please dont hesitate to contact my Discord (Bloom#8890), I would love to hear your thoughts of any of these topics.  Special thanks to my best friend Ophelia for pushing me to make this blog in the first place, you’re the best buddy :) .  That’s all for now, Cardfighters, see you in the next blog post ! Bloom aka thebudgetgarden.

[nutslovesdolts]

The start of something new

Part 1 of the pirate!au

On solem seas the winds a blow under our sails asunder, and through these tails of pirates woe and admirals they plunder, the wicked eye of yonder storm shant tear them from there sea-ward home, and Ruby rose and crescent sails beyond. A secret tail of lovers scar and beauty in the dark, respect the deep blue sea they must or drown in it there hearts will under, A Schnee it seems an even match for captain of the crescent rose, and one ship sank yet romance blossom through the heat of battle..

Ruby: so what do you think…? Were from different worlds Weiss-

Weiss: Captain Schnee to you, and once my sister finds you have me… she will show no mercy

Ruby: Your sister doesn't scare me, nor any who seek to block our quest, we seek only the most noble outcome for human and Faunus kind, your people of the kingdom Atlas do not see it as such… but I do not wish for us to be enemies, as I have proposed, as penance for a noble fight and surprise partnership, and as you lost your ship in our valiant battle, I have grown to respect you….  we shall adopt your crew as part of ours, and work towards a common goal *holds out hand to shake* you would become my first officer, a sign of unity and trust for both our peoples

Weiss: *looks at the outstretched hand, surprised by the kindness and trust she was shown by her fiercest enemy, this all had to be a joke, a ruse… there was no way this smiling bubbly… PIRATE could be the foe she had set out to slay… after a moment she noticed the concerned look on Ruby's face, she had been staring at her hand for almost a minute* I… I just don’t believe you would put so much trust in someone who was trying to kill you meer moments ago… this feels… surreal…

Ruby: look *sighs and leans back* were not like normal pirates, we don’t speak out fights, and my fleet is only here to protect the people, and to prevent organizations like Admiral Khan’s fleet from over running and murdering entire villages… we've lost too much already… *a sad look came into her eye as she stared out over the water through the window in the cabin* Captain Taurus has been plaguing my sister and her partner for ages, they had to separate because of Adams bloodlust… now I know not the fate of my own family… and with the navy that is of the darker worlds… the fleet of magic and evil, the creatures and armies of grimm *she said with a wince* … why would I hold any grudges towards you? Or your crew… you may come from a nation of bigots, and from a family of evil… but I do not see that in you, so please… just join me? For the sake of the world? Our forces combined… our knowledge…. We may actually have a chance for once, not to mention how nice it would be to have such a stunning lady aboard *she said breaking the solemn mood with a wink*

Weiss: *blushing ever so slightly* well… i'll give you this captain, you know all the right things to say, but let me get one thing straight, I will not attack Atlas ships, nor will I save you if my sister finds us *she reaches out to Ruby’s outstretched hand* but for now… you are our best shot at surviving out here… as much as it pains me to say it, me and my crew are at your disposal… but one thing?

Ruby: hmm? Of course, I never said anything about conditions, fire away

Weiss: we don’t have to change uniforms, we can keep our colors and fly them high, you may have taken our ship… well not YOU but you know… but we are still proud of who we are

Ruby: *nodding* of course,  and i am deeply sorry about your ship, I wouldn’t have done so much damage had I know about the creature.. But it is of no matter now, snowflake is unfortunately gone and we are victorious, shall we go on deck to make our announcement of our partnership?

Weiss: *smirking* when you say it like that it sounds like we're getting married

Ruby: *losing composure for a moment* I… well… aaaaaaaaoooon deck we go hehe *gestures with both hands to the door*

Weiss: rolling her eyes* you are such a dolt

*as they left the cabin Weiss was greeted by the breathtaking quadruple masted ship, long and with a consistent curve hidden under water, the blood red wood base contrasted with the black trim which had ornate patterns of gold within them, similar to her captain's outfit, it had 2 gun decks of varying lengths, and doors in both bow and stern for added cannon fire during a chance, never before has such a fast ship sailed in these waters, especially not one with a battering ram at the helm, her bow held a beautifully carved bouquet of roses in place of the normal figure head, and smaller roses ran along the sides colored in the aforementioned golden paint, the tall triple sailed masts held two Qrows nests at the top in which were sitting the lookouts ever vigilant, the ship felt… warm, almost like there was a glow about it, Weiss had seen it during their battle but especially now with the mingling crews of both ships only moments ago who had been at each others throats, patching each others wounds and sharing tails… Weiss’ crew seemed hesitant, as if they also saw this all as a type of joke… how were these people so kind…?*

Ruby: ATTENTION CREWS OF THE CRESCENT ROSE AND THE SNOWFLAKE, me and your captain have come to an accord, we shall combine our crews into equal parts, no man or woman, nor anyone in between is to be discriminated against. To the crew of the snowflake, many of our crew such as Ilia are faunus, they are to be treated no differently from your own friends, understand?

*there was some quiet murmuring*

Weiss: Anyone who disobeys that order shall answer DIRECTLY to me *she said confidently putting a hand on her sword*

Ruby:*looking proud already* Aye, and all those who wish to try their luck at the seas mercy shall be given a row boat and 4 weeks rations, the choice is yours

*a few members of the snowflake raised their hands to take that option, but not before being stared down by Weiss*

Weiss: cowards, bigoted cowards… begone from this sturdy vessel and may the sea be kind to you on your long journey!, excuse us, as me and your captain have much to discuss about our moving forward

Ruby: Here Here to our new order

*the two went back inside the cabin, before a knock on the door came*

Ruby: Ilia! How are you?

Ilia: hey captain, I just have a question, now that Weiss is first officer, what does that make me?

Ruby: sorry for the demotion, you deserve the best, but I just need to set an example

Ilia: I understand captain, I'm actually glad to be out of the spotlight for once haha, and Ms. Weiss, pleasure to meet you

Weiss: likewise Ilia, I hope we have more time together in the future.

*the door closes behind her*

Weiss: so what now, what's our plan, should we follow the trail of our attackers?

Ruby: I have my best man on it, Sun is up in the Qrows nest right now keeping tabs on their location, our current heading keeps us at a parallel course while out of sight due to the sun’s location, perfect cover

Weiss: then what is it that is left to discuss?

Ruby: *blushing* well, I actually hoped to get to know you better… we’ve kinda always been at each others throats and now… well, were free of all that

Weiss: I… am actually quite interested to get to know the infamous pirate Ruby Rose, the pirate that fights with a scythe… quite a unique story I believe  

Ruby: of that well see, I feel as though our journey's just begun

Weiss: then here's to see where our pearls shall take us next

Ruby: I would like that

________________________________________________

Crew manifest:

Crescent Rose: Ruby Rose: captain of the Crescent Rose, fastest fighter on the seas

Ilia: stealth assassin and intel operative, former first mate to Ruby

Sun: lookout and tracker, knows his ways around the ropes of the ship

Neptune: cook, he hates water se he stays where he won't have to look at it

Scarlet: one heck of a fighter, partner of sage and close confident to sun and neptune, former diplomat tuned pirate due to an incident with pudding at the headmasters wedding

Sage: tank and heavy lifter, uses a massive sword to shatter other ships, hes big and band and fears mice, we love him

Reese: tech specialist, found adrift on a device of her own design, her ship and crew were destroyed in an attack, so pledged her loyalty to our cause

Taiyang: father of Ruby, helps below deck and in training crew members

may: best sniper in remnant, now at least

Snowflake (former):

Weiss Schnee: captain of the most advanced dust technology imbued ships currently available to new captains, a battle ship that was no match for captain rose

Klein Seaburn: Weiss personal assistant, has the strength of 7 men, skilled in different forms of combat, a true force to be reckoned with

Atlassian guards: those who weren't killed in the attack but let's face it are cannon fodder

Pilot boy: no one knows his real name, but he can steer a ship like no one's business

Bumblebee

Yang Xio-Long: captain

Crew: tbd

Shroud, sister ship to the bee, stolen from Fang

Blake Belladonna: captain, former member of the fleet the white fang

Crew: tbd

Power cruiser: tech ship with straightened hard sails for unimaginable speed and flexability

Penny Polendina: captain, free spirited and not afraid to break the rules to win, always cheery, used to date Ruby, decided they were better as the best of friends for the time being

Crew: Ciel: personal assistant to Penny, time keeper, expert at star maps and fishing

Personal detail: special guards posted to keep Penny safe, she usually protects THEM

[shadowron]

The Lonely Decker

(Dwarf Decker Julian Strouther from Dreamchipper in his Monopoly Man Costume)

Now.

As I’ve noted before: the decker was the first archetype I ever played in Shadowrun, and has always remained my go-to character. I ranked them 2nd best of all 1st edition archetypes, only being beat out by the rigger. So it pains me to say this:

Deckers are kind of boring.

Not that they aren’t useful. It’s just that, and I don’t even think this was really fixed in future editions, every decker you make is basically the same. Buy the best deck you can, buy the best progs you can, max out computer skills. Voila.

Want to play a combat-type? Former Company Man, Gang Member, Merc, Ork Mercenary, Street Samurai, Tribesman.

Want to play a magician? Burned-out Mage, Former Wage Mage, Shaman, Street Mage, Street Shaman.

Lots of variety there.

Even if you wanted to play a more social type: Detective, Rocker.

What’s left?

Well, admittedly, the Rigger. Given that the decker and rigger are both defined by the equipment they use, there is still much more room for uniqueness being a rigger than a decker. Third edition included separately the vehicle rigger and drone rigger, but there’s nothing stopping a custom-built rigger from specializing like this in 1st edition. Even for a vehicle rigger: which vehicle? Optimized for speed, for combat, or for transport? Ditto for the drone rigger. And this is just speaking of 1st edition, pre-Rigger Black Book.

As for the decker, even Virtual Realities didn’t address this flaw – while it included more detailed rules for building your own deck, everyone still made the exact same deck: the best you could possibly build following the rules.

There are two decker archetypes in 1st edition: Decker and Elven Decker. But, as I’ve already addressed in an earlier article, being an elf doesn’t really give you an advantage. Yes, you get +1 Quickness, but your starting Reaction is still limited to 6, and that’s what counts in the Matrix. The other races have penalties to Quickness or Intelligence, and so unless you want to start with a handicap, you want to play a human decker.

Early adventures tried to include more variants. Dreamchipper had a Dwarf Decker as a sample NPC. DNA/DOA had a (sigh) mage/decker. Horrible idea. “He lives for the rush”, which loads at 2400 baud since he’s using fragging tortoise mode because he doesn’t have a datajack. I guess the rush comes from getting your ass kicked in both Astral Space and the Matrix.

(Mage/Decker Andrew Shalene from DNA/DOA before his twelve-hour Matrix run getting past the first SAN)

Searching for Inspiration

The next step would be to say, okay, in what ways could you make different deckers unique?

Now, if anyone comes at me with Otaku/Technomancers…  Just no.

On the record? Just interested in 1st edition rules here.  Off the record?  I hate the entire concept. HATE. H@T3.

They tried to make cyberspace work more like magic, but frag that, don’t just make a lame mirror-image. Do it like Mage: The Ascension, and make the “Matrix” just another metaplane (and yes – I played a Virtual Adept). Or keep the techno-mysticism and ditch the magical element altogether, but then it would be a more blatant ripoff of Count Zero by Gibson.

Shadowrun was first published in 1989, I started playing in 1990. I had not read any cyberpunk literature at that point, and wasn’t even really that much into sci-fi. Had not read any Asimov at that point, was Team Star Wars over Star Trek. This was before The Lawnmower Man (1992), Hackers (1995), and of course, The Matrix (1999), which:

1.       You couldn’t even be mad at for co-opting the word “Matrix” from Shadowrun given how much blatant theft Shadowrun engaged in.

2.       Why did they never publish a table-top RPG?

Not that there was any lack of computer “hackers” in movies before that, with Wargames (1983), Revenge of the Nerds (1984), and Weird Science (1985) in successive years of my impressionable youth.  As 1990s computer nerds go, I was about a 6/10. I grew up on the Apple II and learned the basics of programming by high school, was a frequent visitor to dial-up BBSs and chatlines on the family PC.

Don’t mean to brag.

Back to the issue at hand: what are the interesting decker variants?

Aligning with the “cinematic hacking” aspect of Shadowrun, there really isn’t much. There are systems you want to get into, and the IC doesn’t want to let you in. Your two options are:

1.       Sneak past it, or

2.       Crash it.

That gives you only two specialties: are you a Thief, or are you a Fighter?

If you’re the only decker – most likely – then you must be a little bit of both. Pick locks and hide in shadows until you need to whip out the broadsword. Thief maxes out Masking and Sensors utilities, Fighter maxes out Combat and Defense utilities. If you’re not the only decker, then it makes more sense to specialize. Even then, the D&D analogy starts to break down – the Thief can’t “sneak” the Fighter past the IC using Deception or Sleaze progs, as their use is individual to the persona. Fighter could slow/crash the IC, allowing the Thief to pass, but then it risks triggering alarms. No point in the Fighter waiting outside the system and “guarding the gate”, as security deckers are prone to enter from within the system they are guarding.

You could argue that, if your entire campaign was built around deckers, then there would be room for a proliferation of decker species, and you’d be correct, except then you’re really talking about a different type of game entirely. Like if you had taken the Shadowbeat sourcebook and decided to run a *shudder* Rocker-only campaign.

Stuck with the lonely decker

So what is there to do?

Rather than varying what deckers do inside the Matrix, you vary what they do outside. The beauty of the classless system is that you can, apart from magicians, add as much as little of an archetype as you like.

Speaking of archetypes, what would it take to get one of the other, non-decker, archetypes to work as a decker? After all – a good starting nuyen rolls gives you the chance to buy a deck. A Radio Shack CD-100 with Rating 1 Bod, Evasion, Masking, Sensors, Analyze, Attack, and Sleaze is 9800 ¥. Is this the worse deck imaginable? Absolutely, but it is a deck. The character can at least attempt to do something in the Matrix.

To whom do you give this deck?  Only two of the other archetypes have a computer skill and a datajack: Rigger and Former Company Man. Of those, the Rigger is the better choice, with a slightly higher Computer skill (3 > 2), and a slightly more in-game motivation for decking (they’re the tech rat).

Now, the only other archetype with a Computer skill is the Detective (at 4), but he has no datajack. Which means that, if you really want to take advantage of this backup wannabe decker, you going to have to…

That’s right. I’m going to say it.

TIME TO BUY A FRAGGIN TORTOISE!

I realize I slammed an NPC mage/decker above – because that idea is just stupid. Detective Decker is slightly less stupid, because he has skills that can be applied elsewhere. Because of the limitations of tortoise mode:

·         -1d6 to Reaction

·         -1 to all program ratings

·         Locked in value of 3 for Persona programs

They’re, yeah, going to suck a bit.  But, the advantages of tortoise mode:

·         Immunity to black IC

·         Locked in value of 3 for Persona programs, so you don’t have to buy them

·         Costs a tenth as much as a regular deck.

It’s this last one Detective Decker will take advantage of. Buying higher rating progs to counter the -1 penalty is okay when that Radio Shack CD-100 Tortoise only costs 620 ¥. Less than an Armor Jacket! May as well splurge on the Allegiance Alpha Tortoise for 1320 ¥. Less than an HK 227! Roll well and you may just be taking home that Sony CTY-360 Tortoise (11,100 ¥) you’ve had your eye on all these years.

You deserve it.

Multiclassing

In college, I found myself in the lucky position of finding a group of friends who had Shadowrun as their common RPG – and only because my friend Jimmy had never played D&D. That’s right – had played Shadowrun but not D&D. I had no idea such people existed. Love you, Jimmy.

We also used a rotating GM system to ensure everybody got a chance to play, which works well for Shadowrun, with each run being nicely encapsulated. Led to some interesting inconsistencies with karma and money distribution, but was fun nonetheless. It was in this campaign that Josh’s merc commented “Generic Assault Cannon? That sounds like something I should have.” And Warren’s street samurai trying to argue he could tuck and roll through a window with an assembled sniper rifle strapped across his back.

He did roll *really* well on Athletics, as I recall.

I had a decker/rigger named Pandora. She, like a lot characters of mine, was a blatant filling of party gaps, but one that made sense. Since both decker and rigger are based upon equipment, you just need to start at max Tech level and choose your purchases wisely. Focus similarly in skills: Computer and one Vehicle skill.

Third edition Shadowrun, with its total rewriting of the archetypes, included what most deckers were leaning towards becoming anyway: Combat Deckers. When you were waiting for the one-on-one time with the GM so that you could fulfill the obligatory Matrix portions of the run, you had to do something, and it sure as frag isn’t casting spells, so might as well shoot a gun.

[megacircuit9universe]

What Will the 2020s Be Like?

DEC 13 2019

I focus a lot in this blog on technology, because it’s something I understand, and also because it does very much transform society and civilization. The cotton gin made slavery sustainable, and the Civil War, therefore, inevitable.

Tech made WW1 the deadliest war ever, and many believe that the advances of tech in the 1920s (radio, telephone, automobiles, etc) was so disruptive, it made the Great Depression inevitable.

WW2 wasn’t so much brought on by advances in technology, but more than any other event before it (or arguably since) it catapulted technology forward. From the first rockets and computers, to the first atomic bombs. 

I grew up in the 1970s, which was the peak of the analog world... the world of newspapers, and three-network broadcast TV.  There was an antenna on every roof... a pay phone and a mail box on every street corner. Cameras used film, recorders used tape, and electric typewriters had ribbons. 

Your watch and your clock were analog, as was your record player. Your electric guitar had pick ups that fed an analog signal to an amplifier with a tube inside it. And your car... well all the gauges on your dashboard had needles. Any feedback systems it had, such as the automatic transmission, power steering, or the carburetor, relied on fluid dynamics or vacuum pressure. 

Tech-wise, the 1970s wasn’t much different from the 1960s or the 1950s, other than doing all these things more cleverly... as one would expect after several decades of honing techniques.

Politically, however, the 1970s was a lot different from the 1950s, because of all the upheaval and transformation that happened through the 1960s. Civil rights were finally being taken seriously. The Draft had disappeared in favor of an all volunteer military. Social conformity was out the window forever. Secularism was on the rise, abortion was legal, and divorce was becoming more common and more acceptable.

Conservatives have never gotten over these political changes, which is why they have, in every succeeding decade, fought dirtier and more desperately to regain control of society... still dreaming to this day of overturning Roe V Wade, for example, but also longing to bring back racism, the subjugation of women, the persecution of gays, and state sanctioned Christianity to the exclusion of all other religions... and of science.

Not that I want this entry to be a screed about conservatism... so let’s just acknowledge that they’ve always been out there, through the 1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, and teens... struggling like hell to claw us all back to the 1950s any way they can... and move on...

Having grown up in the 1970s, I became of teenager of the 1980s.  So I can recall clearly that what made the 1980s different from the previous three decades was the advent of, “electronics.”

I put that word, “electronics,” in quotes to emphasize that this was still a world that did not have computers as we know them now, and nobody thought of their electronic devices as being, “digital”. 

Yes, home computers existed in the 1980s... for hobbyists. I even had a very crude home computer, the Timex/Sinclair 2000 in the early 80s, but there wasn’t much you could do with it, and after it flopped, all support for it vanished. 

This was the story for a lot of home computers in the 1980s. If they were useful for anything, it was teaching you how to program in BASIC, and learn the fundamentals about how these analytical engines worked, but many people saw them as kind of a fad.  

Only super hardcore computer geeks really stuck with them through the 1980s.  The rest of us just kind of lived our lives, knowing they were out there, but not really thinking they would ever matter much.

Electronics, on the other hand, was seen as a different kind of tech that really did revolutionize our everyday lives in this decade before the World Wide Web came into its own.

The term, “electronic,” was for any device from the analog days, that now had a circuit board inside it... with transistors on it... maybe a chip?  People didn’t talk a lot about chips in the 80s, even if they did exist inside our devices.

A Telephone, for example, was an analog thing in the house, with big curly cords.  In the early 70s, they still all had analog dials on them.  By the late 70s, they all had all become, “touch tone,” with a keypad that sounded, “electronic,” tones to do the “dialing.”  But the first truly electronic phones, were the magical cordless phones... with the stubby antenna on the handset that you could amazingly take all the way out to the front stoop! 

This same kind of transformation happened to everything... from digital clocks, to electronic tape decks, cameras, speedometers, and even typewriters with little LCD screens on them, that could save what you were writing to little discs... which they called, “word processors.” :O

There were a million hand held devices... I remember owning an electronic dictionary and thesaurus, about the size of a small tablet today, and twice as thick, with a tiny LCD screen.  It allowed you to play a few shitty word based games like hangman.  It seemed like a modern marvel.

Video arcade games, of course, had a massive impact on our lives in the 1980s, as well as the first home game consoles, for those who could afford them... usually the upper middle class families that also could afford cable TV.

And after video games, the other huge tech that really transformed our lives was the video recorder.  Again, you had to have some money to own one back then, but those giant, klunky camcorders of the day were a massive improvement over the old Super8 film cameras that only recorded video, with no sound.

With a camcorder, you not only could capture both video and sound, but on magnetic tape, rather than film... which meant you could watch it immediately. No need to have it developed... or rent a projector!

I could go on, but the point here is that the 1980s was a time when the analog world of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, was being magically transformed by electronics, and we really felt like electronics were going to allow us to do anything... and  yet nobody imagined home computers, networked together, would be a part of that.

The original Ghost Busters movie from 1984 is a wonderful example of this, because it’s set in the real world... which is beset by the supernatural problem of ghosts, spirits, vengeful gods that range from nuisances, to existential threats, but heretofore have never been tangible, touchable, or provable.

But three, clever, modern men of the 1980s have developed an arsenal of electronic devices to deal with these ghosts.  They can detect and analyze them, track them, attack them, trap them, and hold them in a containment grid... all with state of the art transistorized tech.

The movie really captured the feeling of the times, like no other... that we can use electronics, here on Earth (rather than in a galaxy far far away) to deal with problems in our everyday lives (rather than hacking into NORAD to teach an AI that nuclear war is pointless) and be heroes in our home town.

Young people did take that message to heart, embracing electronics to do what young people like to do... create stuff.  In 21st century parlance we would say they were creating, “content,” but at the time, the big problem was in publishing said content.

Garage bands recorded songs and albums. Others recorded videos, both long, short, and very short form videos.  People wrote poems and prose on their word processors... started, “zines,” which were published using photocopiers, in stapled booklets.

All this stuff we attempted to shop to big publishers, who’s gate keepers ignored it, so we tried to sell zines, and indie tapes in local record stores, or showcase local videos at get-togethers in coffee houses.   We developed an, “underground,” of indie music, video, writing, comics, etc... which relied on a network of high school and college students disseminating copies of content from hand to hand, throughout the country, and across the pond.

Most of the greatest musicians and other artists of the 1980s... the ones who did get signed to indie studios to produce more professional material... were never acknowledged by the mainstream media... which by the 80s was under the control of 30-something baby-boomers whose only agenda was to celebrate their own youth, and crank out cheep garbage pop for commercial consumption.

So, when the 1990s arrived, and the World Wide Web came into being, with cheep, but reliable home computers that had dial up modems to get anybody with a paycheck online... that underground movement from the 80s took it over immediately.

Most of us had at least some prior experience with BASIC, as mentioned above, and knew the fundamentals about computing... even if we hadn’t used that knowledge much for several years.  

Now, those skills were suddenly relevant, and most of us were still young enough (in our twenties now, rather than our teens) to take on the learning curves necessary to do everything from code HTML, JavaScript, and CSS, but learn how to work on and upgrade our machines, how to master operating systems and all the big applications... the word and graphics processors, the animation tools, the video tools, the audio tools... how to get freeware... how to make freeware... you name it.

The teens of the 1980s, including those hard core computer hobbyists mentioned above, who helped build the primordial backbone that would become the WWW a decade later, built the internet.  We pioneered it, formatted it’s culture... of memes, piracy, boundless creativity, and the free sharing of ideas and technology.

And we did it all in the late 1990s and early 2000s before the mainstream media had any real clue that this silly internet thing could be come kind of a threat to their carefully curated analog kingdom.

Flaming and trolling were things back then... conspiracy theories, fake news, and disinformation were problems back then... but they were manageable. Nothing like what they are now, at the end of the twenty-teens.

The problem there, is that in the twenty-teens, the old conservative farts finally left the safe confines of AOL and began to slowly populate places like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter... as did all the AM radio shock jocks they listened to.

At the same time, “Big Media,” began to take the internet seriously as a threat, with YouTube and Netflix stealing so many of their captive eyeballs and earlobes, and launched a hostile takeover of the internet that continues to play out to this day... with Disney buying up every franchise and attempting to shut down Netflix, and net neutrality itself having been destroyed by the Trump administration two years ago now, allowing ISPs to partner with big media outlets and throttle competitors content, as they all attempt to stamp out independent, original content altogether.

YouTube’s on life support, for independent creators. Tumblr is a zombie husk of what it was just two years ago. Twitter is a hellscape.  Facebook is for lifeless mannequins. Vine is dead. Blogger and LiveJournal are forgotten to time. MySpace, Geocities and AngelFire... all ashes now.  All destroyed by blind corporate greed and the same  army of bigoted killjoys we’ve been trying to beat back since the dawn of civilization.

Still, technology continues to evolve, and the internet of 2019 is not the desktop computer based internet of 1999.  Twenty years later, it’s become a wireless internet that’s expanded to include very powerful handheld devices which can do everything every, “electronic,” device of the 1980s did, and much more... all in a thing that fits in your shirt pocket.

This changes the game going into the 2020s, as smart phones settle into their final form factor... and slowly begin to assume their ultimate role as the, “mission brain,” for an individual’s life.

In the 2020s, my phone will not just bluetooth to my watch, and be the thing I bank and shop with, as it is today.  It will talk to my car, if I still own a car.  It will talk to my house, if I own a house.  It will talk to my smart glasses, overlaying my view of the world with augmented reality. It will be even talk to me... and work with me to solve any problem I might have... from finding a dog walker, to complex legal and financial issues.

From a political perspective... it will represent me in polls... the way today’s smart phone and land line phones have never done.  And it will register me to vote, remind me when to do it three weeks early, and clear my schedule, and get me a ride if necessary... meaning voter turnout will be far higher than ever before among the younger demographics... from 18 to 55... or GenZ up to GenX... with aging Boomers still sitting on Facebook at their desktops, paying their bills with paper checks unable to understand why even primaries and midterms are largely decided by the time they show up in their walkers to vote straight Republican down the ticket, like what’s worked in their favor for many decades.

The bigger picture here, if you zoom back... is that, with the form factor of smart phones having been worked out in the twenty-teens, the big advances in the 2020s will be in the AI those devices have.

And that coming level of AI, will allow individuals to continuously circumvent any roadblocks the corporate and political behemoths of old try to lay down for us... from bureaucratic red tape and voter suppression, to monopolization of media and markets, to censorship and the moderation of free speech.

I know all of that sounds idyllic and Utopian... and loudly echoes the original view of what the internet was gonna do for humanity, back in the 1990s... but much of what we have today would have seemed overly-futuristic and impossible just twenty years ago.

I’m sure there will still be a dark political backdrop to deal with, as today’s upsurge of racism and fascism around the world struggles to stay relevant. 

And the effects of climate change through the 2020s will be another big source of darkness and drama like we are only beginning to see at the end of the teens... which will trigger major transformations in the way we all live.

Homes will get smaller and more efficient. Car ownership will dive to new lows. Families will get smaller, and suburban sprawl will ebb backward, creating, “ghost subdivisions,” haunted by the spirits of Karen and Craig.

They will follow the trend of today’s abandoned shopping malls, which will also only get worse.

Meanwhile, weed will come to be legalized nationally... as it is already doing state by state, leading to an eventual end to the War on Drugs, and much of the gang violence related to drug trafficking... as well as an influx of tax money, even before we’ve figured out how to tax the rich at a fair rate.

The 2020s will not be without their tumult and tribulations, but I believe that on the whole, compared to the twenty-teens, they will be a lot less crazy, and a lot more hopeful.

Time traveler traffic... also... won’t be nearly as heavy.... which will ease the craziness considerably.

As for aliens?... well... Trump might just get his Space Force so...  they will probably be taking the brunt of the trolling from the aliens, rather than the Air Force... for whatever that’s worth.

Time for bed.

[solarwindandcosmicash]

interlude iii: the fleet sends its regards

Absent: Kate’s player

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The party debriefs with Annos about everything that went down on Eden Prime. Annos is apologetic as he explains there is another mission so soon after this one, but time is of essence and he promises a break afterwards. He sends them off to speak with Elaye before returning to him on the lower deck of the Apricity.

summary

Annos keeps the party only briefly after their mission on Eden Prime, and soon after, they walk up to the CIC and meet with Elaye to peruse her wares.

WEAPONS Pistol upgrade – additional damage die, +1 to related talent – 2500 credits Assault rifle upgrade – additional damage die, +1 to related talent – 2500 credits Shotgun upgrade – additional damage die, +1 to related talent – 2500 credits Sniper rifle upgrade – additional damage die, +1 to related talent rolls – 2500 credits

ARMOR MODS Shield upgrade – additional 5 points to shield – 600 credits Barrier upgrade – additional 5 points to barrier – 600 credits Medi-gel upgrade – carry one additional pack of medi-gel – 1000 credits

OMNI-TOOL MODS Omni-tool upgrade – +1 to tech talent rolls – 1000 credits

RANGED WEAPON MODS Combat Optics – +3 to attack rolls – 700 credits High Caliber Barrels – additional damage die – 400 credits Precision Scope – +4 to attack rolls, sniper rifle only – 1500 credits Kinetic Coils – additional damage die and +3 attack rolls, takes two mod slots – 3000 credits Thermal Scope – eliminates penalty when shooting through smoke or in the dark – 1000 credits Silencer – shots are silent and invisible – 1000 credits

MELEE WEAPON MODS Vicious Blade – additional damage die – 200 credits Feather Core – lowers melee weapon weight, +3 to melee parry – 300 credits Polonium Edge – one less damage die, but +6 to attack rolls, takes two mod slots – 3000 credits

AMMO MODS Cryo Rounds – may freeze a target – 500 credits for 5 rounds Incendiary Rounds – causes bonus fire damage, ignores armor – 500 credits for 5 rounds Armor-Piercing Rounds – +2 damage to armor – 500 credits for 5 rounds Disruptor Rounds – +2 damage to shields – 500 credits for 5 rounds Warp Rounds – +2 damage to barriers – 500 credits for 5 rounds Tungsten Rounds – +5 damage to synthetics – 800 credits for 5 rounds Shredder Rounds – +5 damage to organics – 800 credits for 5 rounds Polonium Rounds – causes 5 damage per turn for 3 turns (organics + synthetics) – 1000 credits for 5 rounds

Once completed, Beetle and Phos round up Vekar and Vasir and drag them with them to the lower deck: they have a plan, and they aren’t afraid to execute it.

notable lines + interactions

DM, posting the list of Elaye’s wares: BANG. Phos, OOC: Woah. Beetle, OOC: Hm. Vasir, OOC: Holy shit, it’s the merchant’s wares!

in discord Phos: phos: Hey Beetle, maybe you wanna get this one Phos: Precision Scope – +4 to attack rolls, sniper rifle only – 1500 credits Beetle: Beetle: it says sniper rifle i have a shotgun??

Phos, OOC: Sheba-ba-ba shebs sheebs sheba. DM: ’Sup.

Phos, OOC: What is math anymore, why can’t - why can’t I do this in my head? Vasir, OOC: [Phos’s player], you can use a calculator. Phos, OOC: No! I must. Vasir, OOC: You’re using a computer right now that was built to do math. It’s okay. Phos, OOC: No! It’s not okay, I can do math. It’s gucci. It’s - it’s all - DM: It doesn’t sound gucci. Beetle, OOC: Don’t be scared of numbers.

Vasir, OOC: [DM], I don’t know if you want to bother - Phos, OOC: [unintelligble muttering about math] DM: ‘Sup, [Vasir’s player]. Vasir, OOC: I saw what you have as synthetic rounds and I just want you to know that in the games, they’re called tungsten rounds. I don’t know if you want to bother changing it, I just wanted to let you know because my brain is a horrible encyclopedia of useless Mass Effect knowledge.

Phos, OOC: I can’t buy the sweet shit! Fuck! Vasir, OOC: That’s how it goes! It’s the authentic Mass Effect experience. Phos, OOC: [screams] Beetle, OOC: You get a discount if you say it’s your favorite shop on the Citadel. Vasir, OOC: We’re not on the Citadel, shut up. Beetle, OOC: My name is Beetle and this is my favorite shop on the Apricity. DM: This shop is discriminating against the poor!

Vasir, OOC: Fair thee well, Kate. We hardly knew ye. Literally.

Phos, OOC: Can I just go up to Elaye and be like, “Hey, check this [shotgun] out, show me what to do with it.” Elaye: I’m not an appraiser. DM: No, I’m just kidding. I have notes on this, just let me check real quick.

Beetle, OOC: You know, I died once, and did I learn anything from it? Am I going to fortify my health or my armor or anything - no.

Phos, OOC: Why did you get so small? Why you gotta - DM, singing: Why’d you gotta be so rude? Beetle, singing: Why’d you gotta be so mean? DM: I don’t think that’s how it goes.

in discord DM: boa’ty nar mcboatface vas qwib qwib Beetle: arnold vas schwarzenegger Vekar: sylvester nar rambo vas stallone Vasir: jean’claude vas damme???? Vekar: jason nar transporter vas statham Beetle: dwayne nar rock vas johnson Vekar: vin diesel = vin nar toretto vas tufoorious Vekar: the rock, dwayne johnson, from the rock clan Beetle: Battlemaster

DM: [Vekar’s player] is in rare form today. Vasir, OOC: He’s always like this, though, he - DM: [Vekar’s player] is in common form today. Vasir, OOC: Whenever you least expect it, he just says these amazing things.

in discord Vasir: oh Vasir: god Vasir: youre awful DM: *amazing Beetle: *wonderful

Vasir, OOC: Do not correct me, [DM]. Get out. DM: Fight me, [Vasir’s player]. 1v1 me, [Vasir’s player]. Vasir, OOC: At the Denny’s, three A.M.? DM: Yes. Astral plane. Be there or be square. Vasir, OOC: What’s with all this astral plane chuck? Like, what happened to fighting to game studio parking lots in the real world, huh? DM: ‘Cause I don’t have a complaint with Blizz, I have a complaint with you. Vasir, OOC: What does Denny’s have to do with it, then? They’re a bunch of memers like us. DM: Exactly. Phos, OOC: Fair.

Phos, OOC: YAAAAAS DM: YAAAAAS Beetle, OOC: Nice holler.

DM: You can just have a separate doc to keep track of stuff. Phos, OOC: NO. DM: Uh - okay. Phos, OOC: I won’t - it’s aesthetic. DM: Okay. Alternatively, you can print it out and write on it. Phos, OOC: NO. DM: Uh - okay. Phos, OOC: It’s just a mess.

Beetle, OOC: Alright. DM: Alright, alright, alright. Beetle, OOC: Alright, alright, alright. Phos, OOC: Mood.

Vasir, OOC: Well, I’m back. DM: Hi, [Vasir’s player]! We missed you! Beetle, OOC: We had lots of exciting adventures. DM: In the - in the minute you were gone. Beetle, OOC: Yeah.

DM: I’m going to end this recording, and I hope nothing funny happens between now and when we start. Beetle, OOC: Quick, everyone meme!

DM: It’s a baby level up.

Vasir, OOC: I go back to the other channel to find a dabbing Sonic. I should not be surprised. Beetle, OOC: You really shouldn’t be at this point. Vasir, OOC: [Beetle’s player], where do you find these things? DM: Don’t answer that. Beetle, OOC: Well - DM: Don’t. Answer that.

Phos, OOC: Oh, wait, gotta get my dice ready - [sounds of multiple dice hitting a hard surface] DM, laughing: You just spill all of your dice on the table? Vasir, OOC: Uhhh, I rolled a something, DM. Phos, OOC: Shut up. I already wrote down my d20, I just - I just didn’t have any other dice ready, I had it in my hand. The rest of the dice are now free! DM: Oh, god. Free them!

Phos, OOC: Are we going to get slapped in the face by the d20 roll? Vasir, OOC: We won’t know until we get there.

Beetle, OOC: Damn. [long pause] We’re strong now.

Vasir, OOC: Maybe Beetle will not die as much now, but I remain skeptical of that outcome. Beetle, OOC: She only died once! Vasir, OOC: Yeah, but like - DM: Yolo, man. Beetle, OOC: Yeah! Exactly. Vasir, OOC: Why did you have to say that? That’s her exact philosophy, oh god. Vekar, OOC: That’s why you have to say it. DM: It seemed appropriate. Vasir, OOC: Don’t side with them, [Vekar’s player]. Beetle, OOC: Yolo.

DM: What’s the talent? Vekar, OOC: Overkill. DM: I don’t even know what that is. Can you read the description?

DM: Alright, we ready to do stuff? The party: [various pronouncements of ‘I’m ready’] Beetle, OOC: I’m ready for Stabby McWarhammer. DM: Oh, right, uh, let me do some talking first.

technical notes

The party is paid for their services. Each member receives 1500 credits.

Beetle makes a purchase. She is now the proud owner of a Precision Scope, which is soon attached to the Cold Shoulder.

Phos makes a purchase. Phos buys a Silencer, which is attached to Nyeck’s shotgun.

Vasir makes a purchase. Vasir gets a shield upgrade, bringing their total shields up to 15 points.

Vekar makes a purchase. Vekar buys a high caliber barrel and a medi-gel capacity upgrade.

The party levels up (Level 3).

Beetle → +3 HP, +1 to Knowledge Phos → +2 HP, +1 to Perception Vasir → +1 HP,  +1 to Perception Vekar → +3 HP, +2 to Mechanical, learned new skill Inferno Grenade

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[allcheatscodes]

arcanum of steamworks amp magick obscura pc

http://allcheatscodes.com/arcanum-of-steamworks-amp-magick-obscura-pc/

arcanum of steamworks amp magick obscura pc

Arcanum: of Steamworks & Magick Obscura cheats & more for PC (PC)

Cheats

Unlockables

Hints

Easter Eggs

Glitches

Guides

Achievements

Get the updated and latest Arcanum: of Steamworks & Magick Obscura cheats, unlockables, codes, hints, Easter eggs, glitches, tricks, tips, hacks, downloads, achievements, guides, FAQs, walkthroughs, and more for PC (PC). AllCheatsCodes.com has all the codes you need to win every game you play!

Use the links above or scroll down to see all the PC cheats we have available for Arcanum: of Steamworks & Magick Obscura.

Genre: Action, Adventure Developer: Unknown Publisher: Sierra ESRB Rating: Mature Release Date: August 8, 2001

Hints

Big Money Small Town

First in Shrouded Hills talk to talk to Ristezze then pick pocket Ristezze’s key to his bed room, leave the store and advance time one day then back into the store go into his bed room and open the chest take the money inside it you can do this as long as you want sometimes you will have to go down a little bit to find the money. Note: every now and then there will NOT be any money in there, but here is another idea take all his sale stuff and sell it back to him.

Easy Money

On the side-quest where Madam Lil sends you to retrieve money from Mr. Langley, you can continue to talk to him for more money. Also, as long as you don’t give Madam Lil the money you can continue to get money from Mr. Langley infinitly.

General Character Creation Tips

Well, character creation in this game is probably the biggest, and most overwhelming, part of playing if you haven’t at least tried the game before. There are a ridiculous amount of skills and abilities to choose from, and you don’t have a whole lot of skill points. Don’t even bother trying to create a “Rounded” character, it just doesn’t work. Of course, there is always the option to use some of the ‘Pre-Defined Characters’ that come with the game. It comes with characters from the four general character archetypes. You can also use some of the built in ‘Auto-Levelling’ scemes that will allow you to not have to deal with distributing your points. These pre-defined characters and schemes won’t get as good as you can make your character yourself though.You’ll probably want to choose between one of the four main “Styles” of character. Although there are no actual classes in the game, the skills define your character pretty well.As far as your stats go, some are definitely more important than others. Intelligence really only needs to be above 10 for conversations to be fairly complete (although higher Intelligence makes for some interesting options). Beauty is almost completely useless unless you feel like pushing it up to 20.just make sure it’s 8 or above so people will have a positive reaction to you, and put points in Charisma.it’s much more useful for getting skills as well. Willpower is an important stat for anyone to have (yes, even technologists) because it pumps up both your HP and your Fatigue points. It’s the most important stat for mages, because it lets them learn more powerful spells. All the other stats are mainly useful to specific character types, and should be allotted points as such. For example, a thief should put plenty of points into Perception and Dexterity; a fighter, plenty into Strength; etc.For skills, obviously take the skills that are most appropriate to the type of character you want to be. Read the tips for each individual type to see what’s best for that type. Skills that are greatly useful to all characters are Persuasion, Pick Pocket, and Dodge.As far as being male or female goes, there’s really very little effect on the game. Some people will react slightly different to you, but both can do all the games quests, if by slightly different means. Women get a plus to Constitution and a minus to Strength, which is good for Mages.

General Interaction Tips

This little section will give some helpful hints on how to not get people mad at you.First of all, make sure they’re not looking when you steal stuff. As long as they’re turned the other way, they won’t see you picking that lock.you can turn them at will by talking to them from the direction you want them to turn.If a person’s initial reaction to you is lower than normal, it probably means that they have a different alignment than you. If you have fairly good Charisma, you can usually counter this initial reaction by selecting dialogue options that make you seem more like the not-liking-you-so-much character’s alignment.People who don’t really seem to like you will usually drop little hints on how they want you to act in the conversation.for example, if they say you’re stupid, act smart, if they say you’re a coward, act robust and cocky.Don’t rely too much on the charm spell; people’s reaction will plummet after the spell wears off, and after you do it to them enough times, they’ll attack you.Most people like it when you’re deferential to them, even if you’re at a higher level. Most people’s reaction goes up if you compliment them or take a quest from them.Finally, just don’t be a jerk to people. Many people will like you more if you act confident, but if you’re just rude to them, you won’t get anywhere, and you may get attacked.

Combat Tips

First of all, you should always be in turn-based combat mode.real-time combat can be fun in the beginning, but later in the game when you need to use skills and spells to survive in combat, it’s pretty much impossible. Besides, you get a huge advantage over enemies in turn-based mode, as in, your speed actually counts for something beyond how fast you can click, and thieves might actually be able to negotiate the battlefield well enough to backstab on every attack.If you’re a mage and have offensive spells, USE THEM. Don’t be squeamish about spending lots of fatigue points — you can always just stand around in an area where there are no enemies and regain it all in a couple of minutes. The only way you’re going to gain any experience as a mage is by nailing creatures with spells (and quests of course, but those don’t give enough XP later in the game).For thieves, combat can be a bit tough at the early stages until you’re very good at Backstab and Prowling. (Once you’re a Prowling master you’re untouchable in combat, but that’s not till fairly late in the game.) You have to be clever in choosing which combats to actively fight in, and which ones to avoid (if possible). In combat, use Backstab whenever possible, and be sure you have a fairly good-damage weapon. Once you’re an expert Backstabber, you can use swords and axes. In the early game, small damage spells will be your savior, especially harm.Combat is fairly simple for fighter types. Just go in and whack stuff. Of course, that’s not ALL there is to it, but it sums up the fighter philosophy pretty well. Be sure that you totally deck yourself out in armor, and that you have plenty of healing capability — you’re going to be taking some beating, even with ridiculously high defense.For technologists, it’s probably best to use guns, or the special weapons you can make with certain colleges (like the Tesla Rod). If you’re using guns, don’t be shy about picking up bullets. They don’t take much room in inventory, and you’ll find that they run out very quickly if you’re not careful. When using guns, although real-time combat mode is far easier than for a wizard, turn-based combat can still be useful so that you can use called shots on your opponents (see the manual) more easily. Since there’s always a possibility that you’ll run out of ammo, it’s a good idea to take one or two points in Melee as a backup.

Tips For Technologists

Technologists are probably the most difficult type of character to play to start, since they require a lot of items to work effectively.To start, it’s a good idea to specialize in two or three tech colleges. They all have their uses, but Smithy and Electric are both pretty nice, since they get you good items.Therapeutics is also a good one to have; however, you’ll need to carry a large stock of items to be able to consistently heal yourself.As far as combat goes, technologists have it pretty good. Be sure that you take the Firearms skill, with a bit of Melee as backup in case you run out of ammo, which you probably will.Since your primary weapon is probably a gun, be sure to always get bullets wherever you can, and buy them if necessary to keep a full ammo stock — running out in the middle of a fight can be annoying.Also, never assume that some object you find is useless. There are lots of schematics scattered around the game that you can’t learn through leveling up, so it’s very likely that these seemingly useless items can be used for these found schematics.Always be sure to keep on the lookout for new schematics. The ones you find are always pretty useful, and some that you find later in the game are quite powerful.If you don’t have enough room on you to store all the ingredients that you need, remember that your companions have a lot more inventory space than you do (they have as much as a shop), and they can carry around ingredients that you don’t immediately need/have room for.

Tips For Fighters

A fighter type character’s main advantage is their versatility. Unlike mages, thieves and technologists, who have to be rather specialized in their area of expertise, fighters can go either way. The only stats really important to a fighter are Strength and Dexterity. The only really essential skills are Dodge and Melee.and by 20th level or so, if not earlier, both those stats will be 20+, and Melee and Dodge will both be maxed out. That leaves you somewhere around 30 levels of skill points to distribute among other abilities and skills.A fighter is probably best off spending some points on spells and spell-related stats (Willpower is good to have for any character). Having some low-end damage and healing spells at the beginning of the game (and later on, for that matter) can easily turn the tides of battle in your favor.Still, if you’re a fighter, be sure to get your Strength up to 20, or above. It doubles your damage bonus.if you’re going to be going hand-to-hand with some of the stuff later in the game, you’re going to need it. 20 Dexterity is nice too, but it’s really not as important. If you do have it, you’ll go first in EVERY battle in the game if you’re playing in turn-based mode (which you should be).Don’t be overzealous.just because you’re an awesome fighter doesn’t mean that some lowly Ghoul can’t score a critical hit on you, and even if you have master Dodge and a defense of 100+, many enemies can still easily score hits on you later in the game. Have a plan before you charge into battle, in case the worst happens.

Tips For Thieves

A thief character’s game will be very different from any of the other basic types you can choose to be. To make a really good thief, it’s important that all of your thief skills (except maybe Find Traps) are very good, so that means you’ll have to pump a lot of points into Dexterity and Perception.Basically, through your first bunch of levels as a thief (up to level 10 or so), you’ll want to concentrate on getting your thief skills as good as possible. Find Traps just isn’t worth the points.if you have anyone with you who can cast healing spells, they can heal the damage from any trap in the game faster than it can hurt you.Throughout the game, you’ll want to try to get Backstab, Pick Locks, and Prowling up to master level. Pick Pockets isn’t worth it — the master bonus sucks, and you’ll be forced to get a lowered reaction from people in Tarant (the game’s largest city).The thief’s biggest advantage in the game is that they never have to pay for anything. Even at the beginning of the game when your skills probably aren’t good enough to break into the back of shops where all the items are, you can just pick pocket the storekeeper for the money you spent on the item. Yes, you really can do that. You can use the little “Pay and Pick Pocket” trick on pretty much anyone you give money to, including people who train you to be apprentices and experts. Just one warning: ALWAYS save before pick-pocketing.it’s bad to get caught.A thief character will want to have a fairly high Intelligence. Being more intelligent allows you to get more dialogue options and will also increase your chance of successfully using a skill. Persuasion is also a fairly important skill to have, although you probably won’t need more than three ranks anywhere in the game. You’ll definitely want to put at least one point into Persuasion at the beginning of the game to deal with a certain quest.Since thieves probably won’t have the Melee skill of a fighter type, nor the firepower of mages or technologists, it’s very important that you learn to use Backstab. Try to make all of your attacks from behind a person, using Backstab. If you can prowl up behind them without them noticing, they’ll take a LOT of damage.Once you get to a slightly higher level (10-15 or so), you’ll probably want to start getting a few spells if you haven’t already. The Conveyance school will be your savior if you need to run away.get as many spells from it as possible. Harm is also a nice, low-fatigue damage spell to have, and no one seems to be resistant to it.Finally, don’t be squeamish about killing people to get their stuff (unless of course they’re involved in a quest). Sometimes there’s simply no way to avoid a confrontation, and you’ll just have to deal with it. Most of the time, you can prowl around and get stuff without people noticing you, but in the beginning of the game, it’s a bit harder.

Tips For Mages

First of all, if you’re going to be a mage in this game, be a mage. There’s no way you can balance magic and technological disciplines with the amount of skill points you get in the game, nor would you want to.Your most important stats are Willpower and Constitution — both increase your fatigue, which means more spells can be cast.Pretty much any race except dwarf will make a decent mage. Elves and half-elves are good, because they get magical aptitude bonuses, but they get a -1 to Constitution, which balances that out a bit.All the spell colleges have some useful spells in them, but the ones I feel are really worth concentrating on are: Conveyance, Summoning, Force, Necromancy (Black and white), and Fire. Conveyance spells are just great, so try to get all 5 of them if you can.teleport is probably the most useful spell in the game. Summoning, similarly, is extremely useful; the summon ogre is great at lower levels, and the Find Familiar spell will give you a permanent ally. Force has most of the good offensive spells in the game; all the spells are very useful in combat. Necromancy Black is really fairly useless beyond the 2nd level, but Harm is probably the single most useful spell in the game.with very high magical aptitude, you can easily kill many enemies in one (turn-based) round. Necromancy White is just good to have around, and you’ll be happy you took it.Of course, with all these greatly useful spells, and so many more to choose from, you’ll definitely have to make major sacrifices to other skills to become a great mage. All you should really put points into is Willpower, Constitution, a little Dexterity + Strength, a little Melee for backup, and spells, spells, spells. Persuasion can be useful too. If you have to unlock something but don’t have lockpick skill, use the Unlocking Cantrip spell, the level-2 Conveyance magic.

A Peaceful Solution To Arronax’s Imprisonment.

When your in the void and your outside Arronax’s cell if you pickpocket one of the guards and take there amulet the spirit snake will become one of your followers and if you talk to him he will ask you to release him if you do then Arronax will be free.Note: the amulet is a dorien amulet

Alter Alignment

To increase your alignment towards good, repeatedly give money to the beggars in the streets.

Cheats

Currently we have no cheats or codes for Arcanum: of Steamworks & Magick Obscura yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Unlockables

Currently we have no unlockables for Arcanum: of Steamworks & Magick Obscura yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Easter eggs

Currently we have no easter eggs for Arcanum: of Steamworks & Magick Obscura yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Glitches

Currently we have no glitches for Arcanum: of Steamworks & Magick Obscura yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Guides

Currently no guide available.

Currently no guide available.

Currently no guide available.

Achievements

Currently we have no achievements or trophies for Arcanum: of Steamworks & Magick Obscura yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

[shadowron]

New Archetype (1st edition): Journalist

(Media Producer, Contact)

At some point, I will lay out in a full article why Shadowbeat was the silliest of the 1st edition sourcebooks, but it really deserves an epic, season finale type of treatment. While I have made ample fun of the Rocker, and Shadowbeat’s attempts to make that most useless archetype relevant, I must give credit to one character concept that, while given some opportunities to seed, never really bore the fruit it could: The Journalist.

Like the special music career rules for the Rocker, which I earlier called a backdoor Jem: The Roleplaying Game pilot, there were special journalism rules for reporters, which was also distinct enough to make it a backdoor New York Times: The Printing roleplaying game. Which is a shame, because:

You could run an awesome, themed Shadowrun campaign where the PCs are a pirate trid crew, hunting down leads, broadcasting dirty corp secrets, and so on, without needing the special Shadowbeat rules.  I tried to get one started, over Livejournal, and like Livejournal itself, well…

Even without basing an entire campaign around it, the skills of a journalist/reporter are a great mesh in a traditional Shadowrunning team. Moreso than the Rocker at least.

Characters in the media milieu have always been present in Shadowrun, just primarily as Contacts. Media Producer in core book, Newsman/Media Entrepreneur and Reporter in Sprawl Sites (which also has a section on Media Encounters). Later supplements would flesh out alternate campaign options for them, but you could make the Journalist a workable archetype starting with 1st edition.

So that’s what I’m doing.

(Reporter, Contact)

Inspiration

Of that trio of contacts mentioned above, it is the Reporter that is the closest to being a playable character: focused primarily on Social skills with just enough combat capability to keep him from being wiped out when bullets first start flying (meaning, right away). The Reporter isn’t built as a starting archetype however, so he will serve as the template. Skills are top priority at, followed by Tech – like the decker and rigger, the Journalist will partially be judged by their gear. After a good Charisma, the rest of the attributes can take a hit, and magic and race take up the rear. Heh. I considered opting for an Elf to get the Charisma bonus, but I don’t think the +1 Cha justifies the hit you’d take elsewhere.

Attributes (20 pts)

Body: 3

Quickness: 3

Strength: 2

Charisma: 5

Intelligence: 3

Willpower: 4

 I’m willing to let the Charisma not be maxed out, because I really don’t want to slight any of the other attributes. Don’t want to be too weak or too stupid, and want to keep Body and Willpower up to resist attacks physical and mental.

Skills (40 pts)

Car: 2

Computer: 4

Electronics: 4

Etiquette (Corporate): 5

Etiquette (Political): 5

Etiquette (Street): 5

Firearms: 2

Interrogation: 6

Negotiation: 5

Unarmed Combat: 2

You can see the influence from the Reporter Contact here – mostly just modifications, but with two notable additions

Electronics. He will end up being a tech rat out necessity: linking up video equipment, planting bugs, etc.

Computer. Thinking about how the media exists now, a Matrix presence is a necessity for a 2050 Journalist. Which means, yet, this will make him a decker-lite. More on that later.

Like a decker or magician, the Journalist really isn’t meant for front of the line combat – his skills are primarily for self-preservation. If you really were worried, you could ditch Car and Unarmed Combat and just get a Firearms of 6. But he’s not there to be a marksman: he’s there whenever you need to talk to people. He will have the Contacts, and he knows how to use them. If you claim this makes him too specialized, I will point out the decker, who is largely useless until a run in the Matrix is needed. And the Journalist could help with that, too.

Tech (400,000 ¥)

This tech level certainly gives the Journalist a lot of things to play with – the lower level, at 20,000 ¥, just wasn’t enough. The Journalist will not be staunchly anti-cyber like the Detective or Tribesman (or sigh Ork Mercenary), nor a near zombie like the Street Samurai or Burned-Out Mage (or Rigger or Former Company Man). While the core book did not have the option for cybereye video recording (that would wait until Street Samurai Catalog), it did have enough options to pack a lot of the Journalist’s necessities inside his head:

Datajack (of course)

Telephone

Ear Recorder

Cybereyes with Camera and Flare Compensation (might as well use up the Essence space)

Display Link

Headware Memory (100 Mp)

This gives him an Essence of 3.7 – about midrange. Clearly cybered, but not weird about it. Note, in keeping with concept, no combat-related cyber.

This still gives a lot of money to spend, and even after loading up on nearly every relevant gadget you can find in the book (phones, recorders, mics, data units, other surveillance measures, surveillance counter-measures, token armor clothing, if needed armor jacket, non-lethal taser, and even a fraggin’ Ford Americar) and an abnormally large number of starting contacts (8 extra, for a starting total of 10), there’s still a lot of money to spend.

So, yes indeed, this is where you buy a non-top of the line cyberdeck.  Journalist is backup decker, and might be the only decker you need on a mission. I often forget that, while there are multiple vehicle skills required to be a rigger and multiple combat skills to be a samurai, there is only 1 skill you need to be a decker: Computer. Get a good enough deck and that will compensate for the low Computer skill. And if you didn’t ditch skill points to max out Firearms, you could ditch some to raise Computer to 6, or even shave 1 point each off an Etiquette skill to get there.

Sure, you’re only starting with a Sony CTY-360 (you have the nuyen to upgrade from the I/O-less Allegiance Alpha) and all programs at rating 4, but that really ain’t that bad. Especially since, in core rulebook decking rules, you could pump up Memory and Storage to arbitrarily high values and keep all programs running at once. Besides, once the game starts, it’s much easier to upgrade tech than raise skills.

I’ll be honest: I was tempted to buy Followers for this character, but did not, as it didn’t really mesh with the concept. Have to wait for a future archetype.

(Newsman/Media Entrepreneur, Contact)

How to use in a regular Shadowrun game

The easiest way is to follow the pattern of other archetypes and tack “Former” in front to explain his current life of quasi-crime. He got burned by someone, took the low road, and just uses his skills the best way he knows how. Eh.

More challenging is to play this as a legit, as in SIN-possessing, character. Even if not in the direct employ of a news station, the Journalist can be out on the streets, digging up dirt on the corps/government/tribes/whomever and publishing it on his own. Only fights to defend himself, so at most wears an Armor Jacket and carries a taser. Given corporate extraterritoriality, sure he might be breaking the law on Aztechnology turf, but he’ll be in the Seattle Metroplex when he breaks their story about their illicit manufacturing in the Barrens, so the ends justify the means. While he wouldn’t be one to sign on to a straight up breaking and entering theft, he would be perfect for an investigation/missing persons type adventure (examples of both can be found in the 1st edition modules).

In those adventures, there is always Legwork – everyone stomping around to their respective contacts to dig up the next piece of plot bait that propels the group forward. And they do so haltingly, because everyone maxed out Firearms and Computer and Sorcery and Strength and Body and Quickness and used Charisma and Etiquette as a dumping ground. Not only is the Journalist the social “Face” character, but they have a good backstory for being so. As noted above, if the party doesn’t have a decker, he’ll be good enough. Heck, he has a car, and so covers some of the rigger’s duties as well.