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From: Donald Arganbright <jayden63@*******.COM>
Subject: Re: Vampire ideas and stuff
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 11:05:49 PST
Hoi,

>Note: Cleaned these up a little bit.
>
>Regeneration seems okay, although it's also ridiculously strong -- >and
of the two guys I spotted who had it, one's a 7/8. I've gone >two
routes with cards of my own:
>
>Remove one damage counter or Virus token during the Refresh phase,
>without needing to turn.
>
>Remove all damage counters at the /end/ of the turn if the Runner is
>unturned.

Agreed... I like the first idea better than the second.

>One in-general problem that I saw was that nearly all of these were
>buff, buff guys with high skills to boot. Buff isn't bad; high-skill
>isn't bad; but both together create some unbalanced Runners.

Inretospect... I noticed that too... Partially that came from the
enhanced sences and strengths that a vampire gets when it becomes an
undead... but in game play that doesn't pan out too well. Changes will
be made

>Vampires, being - well, not-nice - should also have a large drawback
>associated with them: They Need To Feed. /Most/ of the Runners that
>follow have no drawback, and certainly nothing like the lust that
>sounds a vampire out into the night.

I was thinking that for an overall disadvantage for vampires would be...
1 - cannot hold cyberware/gear cards.
2 - no deckers or riggers
3 - At the begining of your legwork phase put a number of -0/-1 counters
equal to the number of vampire runners you control spread out amoungs
any number of non-vampire runners you control. If you cannot give out
that much damage to non vampire runners trash a number of vampires equal
to the number of token you could not distribute.

>Onto individual cards.
>
>> Neerith Davenshade / Prime Vampire / 8/1¥
>>7/4 (A1). Anti-social. Stealth-3. If Neerith is not holding >>Gear,
any damage (s)he deals is Silenced. Frag a Runner from yuor >>hand to
heal Neerith.
>"I kill only for food, health, and pleasure"
>
>My major beef with this Runner was the skills -- two uncommon skills
>at extreme levels doth not a balanced card make. Stealth is >probably
the more 'in-flavor' of the two skills, and the Challenges >that require
it fit in well (notably various security guards, and a >Hellhound that
might be influenced.)

Noted about skills...

>> Kilm / Vampire / 7¥
>>4/6. Melee-1, Piloting-1, Streetwise-1. Double the Armor bonus of
>>any Vehicle Kilm is using.
>>"The roar of my engine is more satisfying than my victim's screams"
>
>No real comment on this one; just tidied up the Armor ability. I'd
>like to see more Riggers that benefit from using Vehicles, since
>(except the Rapier and Yellowjacket) I rarely see any get used. Of
>course, there aren't that many Vehicles in the game -- an oversight
>that needs correcting...

Good clean up job... it was a little wordy.

>> Kitar Havensteed / Vampire Assasin / 7¥
>>4/5 (A1). Melee-2. 3¥: Turn Kitar to engage target opponent >>Runner
with a higher Attack rating in Runner vs. Runner combat. >>Place a
+1/+1 token on Kitar for every runner Kitar kills this way.
>"The strong never pray on the weak... there is no honor in that."
>
>Strangely enough, there was an almost *identical* Runner in Corp War.

Ohh... I'm ready to be a Star Trek Psychic

>
>But - ditto the thing with Neerith. While it's nice to see guys with
>high skills, someone super-specialized in one skill really shouldn't
>have any others -- Louie da Bruiser and Foxy both fit in this mold;
>Torgo gets away with his nasty upkeep and Fastjack is, well, >Fastjack.

>But at least Kitar's Melee works against him; at least for his early
>career you won;t want to give him a Katana - but after three or four
>kills, give him the Katana and send him running.

My thoughts exactly

>I condensed the language some, and, most dramatically, only assigned
>the bonus when Kitar 'assassinated' a Runner - normal R-v-R combat, >a
la Wanted and Bar Fight, wouldn't work. That's not really in >flavor,
but seems more balanced.

Thats the way it was intended

>> The Turned / Vampire Thug / 2¥
>>You may have any number of The Turned in your deck.
>
>A *real* Tanaka.

I thought there was more fodder needed... they work well.

>>Brock Strongfuller / Immortal Vampire / 8/2¥
>>7/8 (A1). Regeneration, Unique. Leadership-2, Melee-2, Social-1.
>>If Brock is trashed, he is fragged. 4¥: Return Brock to your
>>safehouse and put a permanent -1/-1 token on him. Play this >>ability
only when he is fragged.
>>"You will never be rid of me or my kind ... We are the strong"

>I don't really see the point of having a Runner with both >Regeneration
and Stamina; both are going to keep him from feeling >damage.

Good point... I like the -1/-1 aspect... Originally he went back into
your hand and you would have to repay his deployment cost, and loose all
the gear he was holding... with the new version what happens to any gear
that he has?

>I upped the Upkeep cost; with the high Threat and well-rounded >skills,
he deserved it. I altered the return-to-play substantially; >as written
previously, it was far, far too expensive. This keeps >Brock around,
but makes each regeneration a bit more painful. The >'frag when trashed'
text just makes sure those tokens don't >disappear: when he's gone, he's
gone for good.

I upped his up keep as well... it seemed justified.

>> Winston / Vampire / 7¥
>6/4. Firearms-1, Streetwise-1, Athletics-1. Hermit, Regeneration.
>"I hide until needed ... Then strike without warning."
>
>No real comment.
>
>>Conrad Uerrentilli / Vampire Decker / 5¥
>>2/4. Decking-1, Technical-1. If Conrad is assisting in a >>shadowrun
and the alarm is triggered, he immediately jacks out >>(and may no
longer assist in the shadowrun).
>"I may be the living dead... but I don't want to die again."
>
>AEX had a (rather) similar Runner, Cobarde, and I found that the
>ability to return to the safehouse is actually a positive thing; >more
than keeping out of danger's way, it gives you a sort-of-free >Recon.

Never thought about it as reconish... also I don't personally like the
idea of a vampire decker... that would imply cyberware... and I don't
think that would go over too well... just my opinion.

>> Nevell Doceturn / Vampire Rocker / 4¥
>>3/4. Fame-2. Nevell cannot be deployed if you have no vampire
>>runners in play. Trash Nevell if you have no vampires in play.
>>"He only does night concerts... funny how they always get bloody"
>
>Well-balanced. Sort of. Fame-2 is awfully powerful, and this guy is
>only going to be used in a vampire deck - so the requirement and
>drawback really don't mean much. I might change this to:
>
>> Phoebe Rayburne / Vampire Rocker / 4¥
>3/4. Fame-1. Turn Phoebe Rayburne and frag a non-Vampire Runner you
>control to give Phoebe Fame+1 until the end of the game.

Ohh I like this one... good change... but is there a limit to how high I
can go with fame?

>Besides .. who on earth would have a stage name like Nevell >Doceturn?

Ok... I suck at names... :)

>> Nosferatu Lair / Location / 2¥
>
>As originally written, vastly, vastly overpowered - a Coffin Hotel
>that both protects your Runners better /and/ earns money while doing
>that.

It was not supposed to earn money... it should have read... Pay 1¥ to
place a vampire in the lair.

>> Blood Bank / Location / 4¥
>1¥: Turn a visiting Runner to visit Blood Bank. That Runner takes >one
armor-piercing damage. Add a number of Blood tokens to Blood >Bank
equal to that Runner's remaining Body.
>1¥: Turn a Vampire Runner to visit to visit Blood Bank and place a
>Blood token from Blood Bank onto that Runner. Runner holding Blood
>token may trash it at any time to gain +2/+0 until the end of your
>legwork phase.
>"What flavor wouldya like -- we got dwarf, troll ... "

I like the idea of the doner... to keep the abuse of the tokens away
from the shadowrun, add the line "can only trash blood tokens during
your legwork phase. They were intended to help with assention... not
shadowrunning.

>> The Thirst / Special / 4/1¥
>Target vampire cannot unturn unless its controller frags a Runner >from
his or her safehouse.
>"One can only hunt ... when the thirst takes over."
>
>Mmmmkay.
>
>> The Turning / Special / 2¥
>Deploy onto target runner. Target runner is considered a Vampire
>until end of game. You may turn a Vampire Runner you control >instead
of paying the deployment cost.
>"Got blood?"
>
>Upped the base deployment to equal the cost of In The Family and The
>Eternal Vow (and even then, I feel turning into a vampire should cost
>more). Thought about extending the "Turn a Vampire.." clause to >being
a set requirement: need a leech to make a leech, after all.

I like the change...

>> Blood Party / Special / 0¥
>Turn X Vampires and add X+1 to your credstick.
>"When the blood flows, so does the money."

>I dunno - you don't normally hear about Vampires rolling in the >dough.

It was an idea... just another nuyen generator... sometimes you just
cant have enough of those... also it was supposed to be unique.

>Only the ancient ones with lots of accumulated wealth. With Doceturn,
you don't really *need* much money, anyway.
>
>> Ray of Sunlight / Special (Stinger) / 1¥
>Immediately return target Vampire to the safehouse turned OR inflict
>one armor-piercing damage on a Vampire Challenge or turned Vampire
>Runner.
>"Bright light! Bright light!"
>
>I really liked Neorazorboy's ideas about daytime/nighttime in the
>SRTCG game (which ties in really well with this vampire thing), so I
>changed the name. I kind of like cards that have more than one
>purpose.

I like the change as well.

>> Silver Cross / Gear (Miscellaneous) / 3¥
>User may not be damaged by Vampire Runners or Challenges.
>"It may be made of silver, but its worth its weight in gold."
>
>It's got nice flavor text :) Seriously, it's an alright card, in the
>same way that Enviro-Bodysuit is a nice card: it works well, but only
>against one enemy (even expanding it to include Challenges, as I >did).

>> Feeding Time / Special / 3¥
>Turn any Vampire Runner in play to attack target Runner in Runner vs.
>Runner combat. If the Vampire Runner had a lower initial Attack
>Rating than its opponent and wins, the Vampire gains a +1/+1 Blood
>token.
>
>Here's a neat twist: Choose any Vampire in play to be your attacking
>Runner. Want to use Bob's Runner to knock off Steve's Deckers? >Well,
when the wind screams hunger into your ears, and it's time to >feed....
>


*** Knife Sharpens on Stone... Man Sharpens on Man ***
*** - Tao ***

Jayden Stormwalker
Donald Arganbright


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