Back to the main page

Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: frontendchaos@*****.com (Jim Montgomery)
Subject: Shadowrun - Exalted crossover!
Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 10:05:09 -0400
> - The Solars can increase Essence by spending Karma. This costs (New
> Rating)x3 Karma. Use the "base Essence value" for calculating this -
> substract Essence loss from cyberware and bioware only afterwards.
> - Skill ratings top out at either 6 or at Essence (this time including
> cyberware modifiers - heavily modified Solars will take some time to catch
> up...). The Aptitude Quality will increase this limit by one.
> - Solars can buy Edge at a cost of (new Rating)x2, and it recovers much more
> rapidly than with normal characters. Stunts add die to actions as in the
> Exalted RPG, and 2+ stunts allows the character to recover a point of Edge.
> The upper limit for Edge is either 6 or Essence. Humans add 1 to this limit.
> - Increasing Magic costs (New Rating)x2. Solars count as Mytic Adepts, which
> means that if they get a new point of Magic, they can choose to spend it
> either on their power as a mage, or on buying an Adept power. They can also
> purchase a level of Resonance instead. If they were Magicians before, they
> can still purchase adept powers or Resonance, but don't loose access to
> astral projection.
> - During Exaltation, Solars get a s***load of Karma for the purposes of
> increasing Edge, Magic, Essence, and a few skills dependent on their Caste.
>
>
> So, what do you think?

I don't have the SR4 rules yet, but I loves me my Exalted, and this
seems like a cool way of incorporating Solars into a cyberpunk world.
As long as you don't focus on metaphysics too much, it would probably
work fine =)

So these Solars don't have charms, just lots of Karma for Adept powers?

Jim
Message no. 2
From: frontendchaos@*****.com (Jim Montgomery)
Subject: Shadowrun - Exalted crossover!
Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 11:15:22 -0400
> If you want to have some metaphysics, just assume that Dunkelzahn/Lethe
> discovered some new source of power somewhere in the metaplanes, but he is
> stuck there fending off the horrors. So he sends some of that power back to
> Earth to chosen people to set things right, and being a fairly democratic
> sort of fellow, he sends it to the underdogs - ordinary metahumans.

I think having the Unconquered Sun be a powerful spirit (or even
introduce some sort of "anti-Horror") works well enough.

> > So these Solars don't have charms, just lots of Karma for Adept powers?
>
> Well, I guess it would be possible to recreate all the Charm trees, but I am
> a lazy guy and this seemed like the easiest way to do it.

Definitely not necessary =) Not sure how Edge works, but having some
additional uses for Exalts would probably be good enough. Maybe have
each caste has an anima power that costs an Edge point to activate?

Sheesh, an Eclipse Johnson... terrifying =)

Jim
Message no. 3
From: rmedwards@***.gov (Edwards,Robyn M - TMS)
Subject: Shadowrun - Exalted crossover!
Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 11:31:28 -0700
what are the negatives?
Why would not all characters be solars?
robyn

-----Original Message-----
From: "Jürgen Hubert" [mailto:jhubert@***.de]
Sent: Friday, September 02, 2005 6:31 AM
To: shadowrn@*****.dumpshock.com
Subject: Shadowrun - Exalted crossover!


Sometimes, I get those really weird ideas and need to put them down
somewhere so that they stop pestering me. Personally, I blame it on not
taking enough drugs...


The Sixth World is a dark place. Dictatorships abound. Border conflicts are
common. Both natural and ecological disasters have ravaged many regions. And
behind most of the world's problems stand the Megacons, the not-so-secret
rulers of all they survey.

But there are older threats lurking in the shadows. Immortal conspirators,
dark magic, and alien spirits all conspire to weaken and destroy the
metahuman spirit. Old champions of all that is good have died, and the world
sinks ever faster into the darkness. Truly, this is an Age of Sorrows.


But not all is lost. Around the world, a few hundred people experience a
vision. The very Sun speaks to them and tasks them "to set the world right".
And so the Solar Exalted set out to do, though there are many forces eager
to set them astray or destroy them...


System: Uses the SR4 rules as a default. The main differences are:

- The Solars can increase Essence by spending Karma. This costs (New
Rating)x3 Karma. Use the "base Essence value" for calculating this -
substract Essence loss from cyberware and bioware only afterwards.
- Skill ratings top out at either 6 or at Essence (this time including
cyberware modifiers - heavily modified Solars will take some time to catch
up...). The Aptitude Quality will increase this limit by one.
- Solars can buy Edge at a cost of (new Rating)x2, and it recovers much more
rapidly than with normal characters. Stunts add die to actions as in the
Exalted RPG, and 2+ stunts allows the character to recover a point of Edge.
The upper limit for Edge is either 6 or Essence. Humans add 1 to this limit.
- Increasing Magic costs (New Rating)x2. Solars count as Mytic Adepts, which
means that if they get a new point of Magic, they can choose to spend it
either on their power as a mage, or on buying an Adept power. They can also
purchase a level of Resonance instead. If they were Magicians before, they
can still purchase adept powers or Resonance, but don't loose access to
astral projection.
- During Exaltation, Solars get a s***load of Karma for the purposes of
increasing Edge, Magic, Essence, and a few skills dependent on their Caste.


So, what do you think?
Message no. 4
From: u.alberton@*****.com (Bira)
Subject: Shadowrun - Exalted crossover!
Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 20:51:42 +0000
On 9/2/05, "Jürgen Hubert" <jhubert@***.de> wrote:
> > --- Ursprüngliche Nachricht ---
> > Von: Jim Montgomery <frontendchaos@*****.com>
>
> > > So, what do you think?
> >
> > I don't have the SR4 rules yet, but I loves me my Exalted, and this
> > seems like a cool way of incorporating Solars into a cyberpunk world.
> > As long as you don't focus on metaphysics too much, it would probably
> > work fine =)
>
> If you want to have some metaphysics, just assume that Dunkelzahn/Lethe
> discovered some new source of power somewhere in the metaplanes, but he is
> stuck there fending off the horrors. So he sends some of that power back to
> Earth to chosen people to set things right, and being a fairly democratic
> sort of fellow, he sends it to the underdogs - ordinary metahumans.

Personally, I'd go the other way around. The first two ages of
Shadowrun's cycle are the two Ages of Exalted. The third one is a
transition period where the world is bent and things get a little less
exciting overall. The return of the Exalted would probably be due to
the high-energy magic that gets thrown around the time of Dunkie's
death, but I'd rather it didn't have anything to do with him directly.

The spirits ordinary magicians summon are Least Gods, with dragons
being high-Essence elementals. Metahuman races are vestigial Wyld
mutations that bred true, with those pesky immortal elves having a bit
of faerie blood (and getting whacked in amusing ways when the true
faeries return).

I'd also use the Exalted ruleset for such a crossover, but that's just me :).

--
Bira
http://compexplicita.blogspot.com
http://sinfoniaferida.blogspot.com
Message no. 5
From: u.alberton@*****.com (Bira)
Subject: Shadowrun - Exalted crossover!
Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 20:55:08 +0000
On 9/2/05, Edwards,Robyn M - TMS <rmedwards@***.gov> wrote:
> what are the negatives?
> Why would not all characters be solars?
> robyn

In an Exalted game, that's the whole point. Solars (and the other
Exalted) aren't even meant to be balanced against ordinary folks. Even
a Terrestrial (the weakest type) would probably eat drakes for
breakfast.

If you're bringing Solars into the game, it's sort of assumed all
players will be Solars.

--
Bira
http://compexplicita.blogspot.com
http://sinfoniaferida.blogspot.com
Message no. 6
From: gpammenter@*****.com (Gareth Pammenter)
Subject: Shadowrun - Exalted crossover!
Date: Sun, 4 Sep 2005 05:31:16 -0700 (PDT)
--- Bira <u.alberton@*****.com> wrote:
> In an Exalted game, that's the whole point. Solars
> (and the other
> Exalted) aren't even meant to be balanced against
> ordinary folks. Even
> a Terrestrial (the weakest type) would probably eat
> drakes for
> breakfast.
>
> If you're bringing Solars into the game, it's sort
> of assumed all
> players will be Solars.
>
> --
> Bira
> http://compexplicita.blogspot.com
> http://sinfoniaferida.blogspot.com


Or Lunars, or Abyssals, or Dragon Blooded, or
Sidereals, or Autochthonians...

Mashing two systems this big together would/will be a
bit hard ;)

Long Live The Emperor
May The Lion Return
Gareth Pammenter
"Wherever and whenever they appear they leave only
destruction in their wake; they are the Lords of Death,
Bringers of War, the Dark Angels."

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com
Message no. 7
From: lists@*******.com (Wordman)
Subject: Shadowrun - Exalted crossover!
Date: Sun, 04 Sep 2005 09:46:11 -0400
On Sep 2, 2005, at 9:31 AM, Jürgen Hubert wrote:

> And so the Solar Exalted set out to do, though there are many
> forces eager
> to set them astray or destroy them...

This idea suggests some interesting cosmological shifts. The story
might go like this:

As the events of the Locust Crusade unfold and the various gods and
exalts enact their grand plans, the fate of the Age of Sorrows is
sealed not by the divine, but by a lone mortal (let's call him Ri). A
sophisticated savant, Ri hated the divine. All the problems in the
world, he saw them either causing or doing nothing to stop. Early in
his career, Ri found a book that took decades to translate, detailing
the events of the Primordial War and the Games of Divinity that game
after it. This increased his distain for the gods even more. Once the
Empress disappeared, Thorns was conquered and Gem fell to the Locust
Crusade, Ri realized that humanity was doomed and vowed to make
humanity safe from the gods once and for all. This would have proved
as hollow as any other mortal vow in the Age of Sorrows but for one
thing: Ri tracks down and claims the Eye of Autochthon.

Unlike those before him, Ri is serving humanity, not himself, and
restrains his use of the Eye while a plan forms. Meanwhile, Creation
is disintegrating as the Locust Crusade begins in earnest. The
sidereals plan to release the Kukla (a few of the sidereals support
this plan only because they have foreseen what Ri plans, and consider
the Kukla the only way to stop him). Ri sneaks the Eye into Thorns
and takes over a high level manse. Using the Eye, he destroys the
manse, unleashing chaotic energy, then he summons the Calibration
Gate to Yu-Shan. Standing in this confluence of Creation, Underworld,
Heaven and the Wyld, Ri activates the full power of the Eye, he
gathers _everything_ around him he can reach, and compresses it
together. The elemental poles, the just released Kukla, the Realm,
all the people, huge chunks of the Wyld, millions of souls from the
underworld, even lesser spirits from heaven, all are compressed into
a dimensionless pinpoint of potential.

Though Creation has been completely obliterated, the underworld
erects defenses and heaven finally acts. In the next instant, as
unfathomable energies coruscate
Message no. 8
From: lists@*******.com (Wordman)
Subject: Shadowrun - Exalted crossover!
Date: Sun, 04 Sep 2005 11:55:38 -0400
Ignore the previous. Sent accidentally.

This is long. Sorry.

On Sep 2, 2005, at 9:31 AM, Jürgen Hubert wrote:
And so the Solar Exalted set out to do, though there are many forces
eager
to set them astray or destroy them...

This idea suggests some interesting cosmological shifts. The story
might go like this:

As the events of the Locust Crusade unfold and the various gods and
exalts enact their grand plans, the fate of the Age of Sorrows is
sealed not by the divine, but by a lone mortal (let's call him Ri). A
sophisticated savant, Ri hated the divine. All the problems in the
world, he saw them either causing or doing nothing to stop. Early in
his career, Ri found a book that took decades to translate, detailing
the events of the Primordial War and the Games of Divinity that game
after it. This increased his distain for the gods even more. Once the
Empress disappeared, Thorns was conquered and Gem fell to the Locust
Crusade, Ri realized that humanity was doomed and vowed to make
humanity safe from the gods once and for all. This would have proved
as hollow as any other mortal vow in the Age of Sorrows but for one
thing: Ri tracks down and claims the Eye of Autochthon.

Unlike those before him, Ri is serving humanity, not himself, and
restrains his use of the Eye while a plan forms. Meanwhile, Creation
is disintegrating as the Locust Crusade begins in earnest. The
sidereals plan to release the Kukla (a few of the sidereals support
this plan only because they have foreseen what Ri plans, and consider
the Kukla the only way to stop him). Ri sneaks the Eye into Thorns
and takes over a high level manse. Using the Eye, he destroys the
manse, unleashing chaotic energy, then he summons the Calibration
Gate to Yu-Shan. Standing in this confluence of Creation, Underworld,
Heaven and the Wyld, Ri activates the full power of the Eye, he
gathers _everything_ around him he can reach, and compresses it
together. The elemental poles, the just released Kukla, the Realm,
all the people, huge chunks of the Wyld, millions of souls from the
underworld, even lesser spirits from heaven, all are compressed into
a dimensionless pinpoint of potential.

Though Creation has been completely obliterated, the underworld
erects defenses and heaven finally acts. In the next instant, as
unfathomable energies coruscate towards Ri, several things happen at
once:

o Ri, realizing he's about to die, releases the particle he has
created, unleashing its energy in an unguided explosion of reality.
It makes a really Big Bang.

o Autochthon, through the Eye, realizes what Ri plans, and also
realizes that his plan will fail without some sort of guiding force
to stabilize it. Through the Eye, he reaches into Yu-Shan and grabs
Gaia and channels as much of her into the particle as he can. Part of
her understands and goes willingly, part of her does not, but goes
just the same.

o Divine energy utterly destroys Ri, after which all the gates from
heaven to creation are closed and reinforced.

The particle expands rapidly, first as a plasma of quarks and gluons,
but soon after as more recognizable forms of matter. From the center,
heaven, the wyld and the underworld are pushed away by the expanding
reality (let's call it the "universe"), their defenses keeping them
separated from it. While Creation was a small island of stability in
a sea of chaos, the universe absolutely dwarfs all the surrounds it.
It begins to evolve.

For a long time, few in heaven lament the loss of Creation, and turn
back to their games. In the underworld, the loss of so many souls
shifts the balance of power and the fact that Creation found a type
of oblivion while they did not drives many mad; an endless war
erupts. The Yozis, meanwhile, strain against their cages. Some
escape, and heaven finds purpose for the next billion years tracking
them down again.

As Ri intended, the new universe evolves without guidance from gods,
but according to set rules (let's call these "physics"). Yes, he had
to destroy everyone to make it happen, but he created a place were
mortal things could rule themselves, once the rules of the place gave
rise to mortal things. There were, however, two flaws in his plan.
The first flaw in the plan is that some passages between the universe
and outside still existed. It would take a long time for them to be
uncovered. The second flaw was the presence of Gaia, or what was left
of her. In the instant of the explosion, her presence gave much
needed stability to the plan, creating rules that would eventually
yield life, creating asymmetry when needed (leading to, for example,
more matter than antimatter). As the universe expanded, so did Gaia's
consciousness, spreading ever thinner. Though the pull was
inevitable, she fought against this a bit, trying to pull herself
together.

The largest Gaian concentration found itself where a large spiral of
stars was coalescing. Finding a disk of matter trying to form a star
in one of the outer arms, Gaia desperately tried to hold on to some
semblance of herself, imprinting on this disk. While not enough of
her remained to fully guide the outcome, she exerted an unconscious
influence on the disk, generating loose approximations of the gods
she new so well. The Unconquered Sun at the center. The maidens in
orbit, and herself at a comfortable distance between them, her lover
the moon in orbit above.

As this matter congealed, Autochthon found an opening into the
universe and explored. He was fascinated that it had grown so vast
and complex completely on its own, with no gods or even pattern
spiders to guide it. He withdrew to let the experiment run
unhindered, guarding the entrance and seeking out other entrances in
the hopes on concealing them all.

As life progressed in the universe, more unconscious remnants of Gaia
asserted themselves. Amid the life that teemed on the surface, the
elemental dragons began to coalesce. They had no knowledge of who or
what they were, but they did have consciousness. Much of the life at
the time had bodies that tried to fit into the ideal spiritual shape
of the dragon, but were unable to think about much other than feeding
and mating. The handful or dragons, surrounded by a sea of dumb
lizards, learned as much as the could about the world. Some fought
and discovered they could die.

Then, a big rock fell from the sky, covering the world in darkness.
While the dragons initially survived, most of their food supply did
not, with dinosaurs dying by the millions. Hard times require hard
measures, and many dragons died. Those that survived became
fascinated with some smart little rodents that survived the asteroid,
and appeared to thrive based on being more clever than their food.
Generations of dragons watched these creatures evolve into several
races that, while not as intelligent as themselves, could at least
give names to things and, eventually, read and write.

By this time, the dragons had discovered magic. As they learned to
manipulate it, they also discovered that the ambient level of magic
around them was rising. They had no way of knowing this was because
the remnants of the Age of Sorrows had found them.

In the intervening time, the gods had eventually missed having
mortals to play with, and begged Autochthon to created a new
Creation. He refused, so they took it upon themselves to make their
own. It started well, but didn't last. The wyld and the underworld
mixed with the new physical realm and it quickly warped into a
nightmare world, filled with hideous creatures tainted by the wyld to
feed on emotion or by the underworld to feed on death.

As the gods pondered what to do with this failure, the Maiden of
Secrets became suddenly obsessed with uncovering what happened to
Gaia those billions of years ago. In looking for the answer, she
uncovered her own passage into the universe and tracked down the
remnants of Gaia's consciousness, discovering Earth. Fascinated by
the societies she found there, she exalted several members of the
race she thought had the most potential, called elves. Finding
themselves to be immortal, these elves quickly took over most aspects
of their society, and started to learn a lot about magic and the
dragons. For their own part the dragons came to believe that the
increasing level of magic (actually caused by the presence of the
Maiden) had happened before, when they first formed (which it had,
with the presence of Autochthon in the universe). They took to
calling the time before them the First World, the time they evolved
the Second World, the time after the asteroid as the Third World and
this new period of rising magic as the Fourth World.

Meanwhile, though, the more powerful of the mutant creatures of the
god's failed creation became aware enough to sense the Maiden's path
into the universe, sort of a metaphysical trail. Fearing the gods may
unmake them, a handful of these entities decided that, with the
Maiden isolated in the universe, they might be able to capture her
and negotiate with the gods. They spent a long number of years
figuring how to follow the trail, all the while becoming more
paranoid of imminent destruction by the gods that never came.
Eventually, they found a way through.

When initial scouts reported the nature of the universe, all plans
for capturing the Maiden were forgotten, and an full invasion of the
place was launched. The denizens of the Fourth World defended
themselves as best they could, but in the end, all that really
mattered was the Maiden's realization that her presence allowed them
to come in the first place. She immediately returned to heaven. The
horrors kept the passage open for as long as they could, but with no
gods there, they were force to withdraw.

Eventually, though the earth saw a new dawn, the Fourth World fell.
The magic that had sustained it receded with the Maiden's departure,
though her servants remained to guard the substantial aftermath.
Civilization disintegrated and eventually began anew in Mesopotamia.

Some of these new civilizations began to worship the objects they saw
in the sky: the sun, the moon, the planets. As they made prayers and
sacrifices to them, the essence generated by this act reached the
gods they represented. The Unconquered Sun and the others did not
know what to make of this act first, as they could not figure out
where this essence was coming from. They consulted the Maiden of
Secrets, but she provided no council on the matter. Eventually, it
was Luna who figured it out, and she discovered a passage into the
universe, finding earth. Some felt her approach, not knowing what it
was. Others, the sidereals left behind, thought there maiden was
returning. Some longed to wear their original forms again, and
encouraged a few elven genes to express themselves in the unborn.

Meanwhile, as Luna approaches Earth, a visionary ghost in the
underworld distracts many from aeons of war with a prophesy that new
souls will soon come to the underworld, the first since creation
collapsed. She names a minor mountain as the source of these souls.
One of the few remaining deathnights is sent to the mountain to check
it out. She finds a tunnel leading to a strange rip in reality. It is
much like the void, but contains stars. As the entropy of the
universe increases, it grows closer to the underworld and no where
closer than here. She is ordered to go through, but is never seen
again. This brings the two realms even closer, however, and when
VITAS claims billions of lives on Earth, it is enough to breach the
barrier as billions of souls, more than the underworld has ever seen,
pour into the underworld, erupting from the mountain like a volcano.
Far more numerous than the dead of the Great Contagion, this mass
migration begins to assert itself.

Then, on December 24, 2011, Luna stood on the face of her namesake at
watched the earth below. The dragons awoke at her presence, as did
much of the world.

Impressed at the world, but distressed at how much technology was
destroying nature, Luna exalted both animal and human to gain nature
back. Some of these exaltations (usually those of animals) don't work
as well as others, resulting in a shapeshifter with no ability to
channel essence. Others work extremely well, particularly a man from
a region known as the Amazon who takes the form of a jaguar. He
eventually makes contact with the sidereals, who have by now started
two different elven societies, and at least one dragon. This cabal
pulls strings behind the scenes.

Luna sends a message to the Unconquered Sun, who soon visits. The
resulting spike in magic causes many in the world to goblinize. It
also causes a panic in a sidereal named Harlequin, who forsees the
invasion this new magical spike will cause. Though, for reasons he
doesn't fully understand, he cannot convince the other sidereals to
help him, he manages to stem the invasion with mortal and dragon help.

The Unconquered Sun sees a world in great need of heroes. He begins
making some. Meanwhile, the surviving (and new) deathlords send
agents of their own into creation. Immediately impressed with the
potential of nuclear weapons, one of them founds a cult called
Winternight, intent on destroying the world. Another eventually
consumed the near dead body of Ibn Elsa, leader of the Islamic Unity
Movement, taking his place.

All of this horrified Autochthon, who saw the presence of the the
celestial incarna in what he now thought of as his experiment as,
well, anathema. Now knowing that his presence in the universe would
interfere with its workings, he sent to alchemical agents in to
investigate. The returned reporting two developments. One was that
humans had figured out how to wed machine to flesh. The second was
the existence of computers and the Matrix, even rumors of artificial
life. In this last news, Autochthon saw his chance to throw out the
intruding celestials. He projected the smallest part of his
consciousness into the Matrix to search for souls that might become
his soldiers. He found that only the young, slightly damaged humans,
responded to his call, but gathered his flock just the same. He also
sent agents into the Renraku Arcology to inject some of his essence
into the expert system that ran the place, causing to to become self-
aware. The birth of Deus gained a bit more attention than Autochthon
would have liked, but he left Deus to his own devices, confident that
enough of his own essence remained to get the job done.

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Shadowrun - Exalted crossover!, you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!