Shadowrun: Remaking Atlanta in 2075

Warning - if you don't care about the world development of Shadowrun, this post will likely not interest you. For those of you (like Anna), I apologize. However, for all our writing and gaming fanatics, I'd like to open a discussion about Atlanta in Shadowrun. I'm also crossposting this to Z's Place Board as well. I'll be crossposting replies as well, if you don't.

Most of you who'd have a serious opinion on this have read Neo-Anarchist's Guide to North America (NAGNA), Shadows of North America (SoNA), and I hope have at least seen the Sixth World Almanac (SWA). What I'd like from you guys is ideas on how to fix it with events that have happened since, oh, I don't know 1991. If you haven't read them, I will gladly provide the necessary tomes along with page numbers to focus on. I really do what all kinds of input here.
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One of the easiest fixes is to replace all mentions of the Atlanta-Fulton County stadium, since it's a parking lot. There's enough time for Turner Field to get into nearly the same shape as they claim the Stadium did and for the Braves to flee to Stone Mountain. May need a little bit of rewrite, but intent can stay the same.
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Second is redefining the regions of Atlanta and Georgia in general.
From Neo-Anarchist's Guide to North America:
Downtown: The heart of the Atlanta sprawl is the Downtown district, an area filled with blocks of skyscrapers rising into the sky and casting their shadows on the city streets far below. The sky is filled with buzzing commuter aircraft and video ad blimps shouting sales slogans. Once you leave the main highways, the streets are packed with traffic and the sidewalks are crowded with pedestrians.
--Commentary: More or less they've got this right. A few things need expanding/updating, etc, but for the most part it's minor or easily ignored. One Issue: What was the 500 story Cord Insurance Building renamed?
--Sidenote: It should be mentioned that the Altanta Police Department went private and still patrols all of the City of Atlanta - well the parts that aren't patrolled by the corporate security forces. I don't, however, buy that they have the police contract for ALL of the sprawl. Stone Mountain in particular I can't see it.
Buckhead: If you're hip, cool, stylish, or just plain rich, Buckhead is the place to be in Atlanta. This section of the Downtown district offers every imaginable luxury and expensive vice. The elegant galleries and department stores are busy all day, and the night spots draw huge crowds every night.
--Commentary: Really, Buckhead gets its own entry?? Most of the stuff they have in this sections makes sense though.
Decatur: Decatur is the district encompassing most of the eastern Atlanta sprawl. Within its boundaries are the CAS government headquarters, along with entire suburbs of housing for government employees. Decatur also includes the Emory University Campus and the new Galaxy Dome sports coliseum.
--Commentary: So one LITTLE area of Atlanta proper gets to be the name for the ENTIRETY of East Atlanta? Not Stone Mountain, yanno, the actual heart of this new region...Decatur...okay.
Douglasville: The Douglasville district includes most of the western portion of the sprawl and stretches westward some distance along I-20. The annexation of this large western area was a major point of contention between state and city government during the restructuring of Atlanta. Douglasville is largely a residential area, with a fair amount of industry.
--Commentary: Yeah, I got nothing on this area. Even today there's just not much there that's dazzling. Lots of industrial parks and residential. Good place to hide stuff. I'm calling the region the Stone Mountain Development Region.
Marietta: Once a suburb that grew up around I-75, the city of Marietta came to encompass the entire northwest section of the sprawl after Atlanta annexed other portions of the state. Most of the Japanese corporations that came to Atlanta at the turn of the century are located in Marietta. It also has heavily populated residential areas dominated by the influence of the many Japanese immigrants who followed the corps. Whole sections of Marietta are predominantly Japanese in culture, language, and food.
Oddly enough, the only top 500 corporation whose home base is in Marietta is an American firm, Shaw Textiles. The vast Shaw production facility spans the equivalent of 18 city blocks. It is here that Shaw produces the volumes of carpets, fabrics, and synthetic weaves that make it the number one textile firm in North America.
Norcross: Norcross and Marietta are sister districts. Like Marietta, Norcross experienced a huge influx of people at the turn of the century. The differences were that Norcross became overcrowded much sooner, and most of the Japanese bypassed the area. In general, housing in Norcross is much older and the standard of living is a little lower than in Marietta.
Southtown: Crossing beneath I-20 is like passing between night and day. To the north of the interstate is Atlanta's prosperous Downtown district, and south of I-20 is Southtown, the blight of the Atlanta sprawl. Filled with the poor, homeless, and the violently criminal, it is a pit out of which rises Atlanta's dark tide of crime. The only area of Southtown that the APF makes any real attempt to patrol is the zoo. The police maintain a tight cordon around the zoo, and they come down heavy on all types of misbehavior. Despite this protection, zoo attendance has dropped every year. The zoo authorities are hoping that their new paranormal collection, which opens in April 2052, will renew tourist interest.
--Commentary: Southtown is a name I'm keeping, but I'm also cutting off how far it expands. Basically once you hit Riverdale, you're getting to the outskirts of it. And it ends abruptly at the Airport. Very abruptly. It also ends abruptly around where the Stone Mountain Development Region starts. Amazing what a heavy military presence will do for you.
--Commentary: The Dome (mentioned in Shadows of North America as formerly Ted Turner Stadium) is really among the only things updated later.
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From Sixth World Almanac:
 Things, however, don’t always work out the way they are planned. Inadvertently emulating DeeCee, Atlanta has grown but has been unable to keep up with the changes. With half of the city under only limited control of law enforcement in the early ‘60s, Crash 2.0 wiped out almost all of the “limited” part of that equation. Hit harder than most by the Crash, Atlanta is still reeling.  e corps, the governments, and the rich have kept their enclaves well-preserved and safe, but the rest of the sprawl is shady at best, leaving average citizens to keep a gun or two loaded and ready in case Lone Star doesn’t show up in time.  The unemployed masses squatting in the burnt-out husks of old buildings o en slip the local gang leader a little something to stay safe.
Of course, these locales are all veritable paradises compared to the Dome. First it was Fulton County Stadium, then it was a Georgia Tech research facility roofed with a photosynthetic membrane, then it was abandoned to squatters a er corp sabotage shut down the research that had been occurring. Never worth the money to clean it up even when times were good, the Dome had settled into a disreputable existence. In addition to the brawls between the insiders and outsiders, the isolation of the bug spirits, and corporations throwing in experimental tech for testing at the expense of the inhabitants, the gargoyles living at the top have begun to get more aggressive, ratcheting up tensions throughout. In addition, serious concerns about the lifespan of the building are beginning to pop up in local politics. While no one really believes the politicians care about the residents there, oofficials still publicly pay lip service to the well-being of the Dome’s inhabitants, while privately indicating they are quite willing to let the structure, and everyone in it, rot. Most recently the politics in the city have pointed toward the pending renegotiation of the Treaty of Denver. While not affecting Atlanta directly, anything that could benefit the CAS and hopefully alleviate border tensions would be a small blessing to the city. It also received a small gift when an employee at the Aztechnology subsidiary Southern Food Group was caught selling BTLs out of their offices. The government was able to void the 99-year lease they had signed in 2067, so now they city has a brand new building to fill with tenants at rock bottom prices.
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Part of what I think will happen in the process of redoing the state during the formation of the CAS is that basically the entire state will be combined into development regions. They are grouped more or less by county and economy. Basically all of the counties in the regions combine their tax dollars into a superfund, letting more affluent counties support the struggling counties, in turn making them affluent. Of course it's Georgia politics, and worse it's Georgia politics in Shadowrun, so of course it's not worked as planned. But what it has done is given some areas a bit more leverage. Some use it wisely, others, not so much. At some point I'll actually lay down which counties are in which region, but they weren't 100% by the source map. The Metro-Atlanta Super-Region is widely regarded as the "boundries" of Metro Atlanta, even though that is not technically true. I'm outright throwing out the idea that Georgia was able to annex Chatanooga and into Alabama. Honestly, TN would hold onto Chatanooga like a mother bear, and there's no benefit of going into Alabama for them. It's going to be either a bunch of low density areas - not a whole lot of corporate interest in the area. This still gives Atlanta a huge area that the City Government of Atlanta largely controls (technically it's a collection of officials, but the City Gov controls it for now). Aside from South Atlanta, it actually gets split up more or less like intended, though the city "triages" their portion, basically developing Downtown, Buckhead and Decatur over Southtown. I think there should be a push starting in the 2060s to rename Decatur to Stone Mountain (as a way of snubbing Atlanta's City Gov), culminating in a 2071 decision which rewrites the maps.

The development region thing could even be a relatively new idea, come to think of it.

Original Map I used: http://www.countymapsofgeorgia.com/
This is a close up of the Altanta Metro organization: https://2img.net/h/i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff244/master_mikel/Shadowrun/GeorgiaDevelopmentRegions-AtlantaMetro_zps6ec429bb.png
This is a statewide Map: https://2img.net/h/i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff244/master_mikel/Shadowrun/GeorgiaDevelopmentRegions-statewide_zps0456c21c.png
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Of course the reason I even thought of all of this again, was that I wanted to develop Covington, Conyers, and all of that as a Shadowrun location (which means digging into the "Decatur" neighborhood). Also, I want to develop a bit more of Southtown. It isn't all about the Dome, after all.

While the big picture stuff will work itself out, right now I need some micro-level stuff. Like a place to have adventures in!

To that end, I present the Pittsburgh Community in Southtown


Located in the heart of Southtown, this is a community that epitomizes the struggle normal metahumans face in Southtown. The community used to be based around a couple of businesses, a trailer manufacturer and a paper mill. The latter business pretty much made life miserable for all near it. Even historic the Adair Park comunity was smothered by its stench as the paper was processed. Of course historic in Southtown has a habit of just becoming old. Turn of the century improvements in the area all failed to materialize. The once good looking homes in the area fell into disrepair. Now Adair Park Villas is a crumbling set of apartments barely fit to be called classified as fit for those who live a low lifestyle. A nearby abandoned school provides a place for squatters who pay their dues to sleep off whatever drug or BTL induced state that caused them to be there in the first place. The gang Los Sueños (The Southerners), made up mostly of latino and black orks, humans, and trolls, control the corner openly. As long as they stay on their corner of the street, most of the residents seem okay to let them be. Many of the more affluent members of the gang live in Adair Park.

The thriving center of this community is the Stuffer Shack and it's subsidiary, Friendly Bob's Diner. About thirty years ago Stuffer Shack bought out Huddle House and used a smiling dwarf as their spokesperson for the brand relaunch. Friendly Bob became a instant sensation, and soon even well to do folks were flocking to the diners. Well in other parts of the city anyway. Here it's one of two resturants where you're going to find economical (cheap) eats that probably won't give you too much heartburn or bathroom trouble. The other is further south on MetroAtlanta Parkway.

Like any Stuffer Shack, this one gets its fill of gangers trying to rob the place. Lone Star pretty much only shows up when called by Stuffer Shack or Aztech Security. Atlanta PD never shows up. When Lone Star comes, its in armored response vans with enough armor and guns to take down comparable military units. Gangers and malcontents stupid enough to be around when they show up often end up "resisting arrest" and have deadly force used on them. Therefore most of the time, gangers and junkies will come in, trash the place and swipe some merch and run off to consume it. If they make it to the buildings controlled by Los Sueños, they generally are considered to have gotten away with the crime. Lone Star cleans out the abandoned buildings two or three times a year, mostly when there are a series of robberies of the Stuffer Shack. Once they are gone, however, things return back to normal.

Across the street from the Stuff Shack is J-Rock's Jerk House, a Jamaican style local eatery. Most of the time they use chickens and pigs for their meat, but they openly advertise jackalope (rabbits with antlers - yes they exist in SR), rabbit, rat, and devil rat. J-Rock, the owner, will jerk anything someone brings in. Occasionally someone will go out of Southtown and bring back a few deer or wild boar, and J-Rock will help host a block party, offering the meat up to the community at a very reduced price. Partially this is because he has limited freezer space when the power works at all, and it must be butchered and eaten quickly before the meat goes bad.

Behind Stuffer Shack is the Austrafarm Food Processing Plant. It is largely automated, with a few skilled workers overseeing the process. Occasionally they will hire day laborers to help load and unload trucks, but every temporary worker is strictly monitored and strip searched before leaving. Food and some nuyen are offered for this, though the food is often stale or out of date. Still, it's hard to have a bad honeybun, no matter how out of date it is. Despite the fact that there is a Stuffer Shack feet from it's outer walls, the security that keeps the plant safe is rarely used to help them. Bug turrets loaded with both lethal and non-lethal ammunition are mounted very 100 feet, and an army of sensors help decide whether a person gets fired upon or not. The sidewalk is technically Aztechnology Corporate territory, and this is posted often. AR displays nearly shout it out in English, Spanish, Orzet, and Nuevo Nahuatl. You'd have to be blind, deaf, dumb, and stupid to not see the postings. Still every year, some idiot ganger manages to get himself killed trying to scale the wall, and Aztech Security makes a show of not cleaning up the body until the next morning. Most of the time the family will come drag the body away and bury them, but those too poor or lacking family that cares about them will be hauled away by Aztech clean up crews. The assumption is they are cremated, but wild theories abound.

Madam Thelma's Tea Room is an oddity. When the troll mystic arrived in the 2050s, she hired some locals to help her rebuild a falling apart house under a massive tree. The roof had fallen in and the house was a wreck. They leveled it and using magic, she cleared away the foundation. Once it was clear, she had them put up some makeshift walls, and for three days, she did some ritual on the place. After she was done, and all trace of her ritual cleared away, she then had the locals build her a nice shack. She uses a salvaged solar power panel to provide power for the Christmas and rope lights that cover every edge and frame the doors in front and back. The shop always smells of incense and other herbs, and she sells teas, talisma, and herbal remedies. She has a wood-walled backyard where she grows herbs and charms. When Los Sueños started coming by the area, they started giving her trouble, though none of it to her face. She was perhaps not strong for a troll, but she was plenty stronger than the average tough, and knew how to use it. More importantly, anyone who marked her walls, or messed with her shop in any way fell ill to some sickness only she could cure. And she never cured it before at least a week of the most terrible boughts of diarrhea and vomiting. After that week, she would find the poor soul suffering, cure him with a single drink of tea, and then make him fix the damage. It only took 6 months for the toughs to figure out not to mess with her. They will sometimes egg on some new kid to mess with her place, but never one that is a part of their gang.

The Pittsburg Extended stay is a classic no-tell. In addition to about five rooms that could be considered livable, they also have a battery of coffins, stacked three deep and filling one of the buildings. The locks on the coffins are exceptional, however, so they are actually safe places to sleep. The proximity to the Stuffer Shack and J-Rocks is also a good selling point. The Extended-Stay is also made safer by virtue of the domesticated hellhounds that patrol the property. Anyone with a room key is safe and will not be harassed. Anyone else gets one warning growl, one warning jet of flame at their feet, and then get savagely ripped apart. Retreating slowly will be allowed, but not to the street. They will herd any interlopers to the office, where Doc seems to always be at. Mos of the time folks will get a new key, after paying a lost key fee (almost half the fee of a night's stay). Idiots without a room are sent on their way. Repeat offenders are shot on the spot.

Doc is fair man and also the local medic, fixing up the gang-bangers and those in the shadows, as well as helping sick families as he can. He keeps a AK in full view on the wall, and is always armed with some gun or another. Like Madam Thelma, the gang doesn't mess with him, or an of his patrons. He does, however, send them business when he is asked by his residents about the kind of therapy they provide. Curiously, the hellhounds love Madam Thelma, as well as the motel's owner, Doc. Most assume they have a relationship going. Both are in their 50s and enjoy each other's company. When asked about their relationship, the asker gets a polite, though terse response. "Bless your heart boy, but that ain't nun of yoor business, yoor hear. Dat's all I got to say on dat." Most residents have picked up on the uniquely southern meaning of "Bless Your Heart" and end their questioning there. Questions about his past will elicit the same.

Question: Are we playing Shadowrun, and if so, which edition?

I think the answer is "Yes, and Fifth." The Tom may GM at some point, but it won't be this next session.

Next question: under character creation are we using the standard priority option, the street-level play priority option, or the prime runner play priority option?

There's a rumor going around that Iron Fungus is out of retirement.

Rumor has it that they're getting together in 2075 for a reunion tour.

Rumor also has it that in addition to performing past hits (like "Infected Ketchup") they may have some new songs that will ONLY be performed on tour.

Stay tuned!

Rye-CHUSS!!!!!      

Well, even though we won't be getting together this weekend after all, I had already gone ahead and built a fifth edition Shadowrunner. I stayed in familiar territory. I made a street samurai, but I made one that's a Good Ole Boy.

Ladies & Gentlemen, I present to you Jonah Wilde, aka "Buck". He drives a pickup truck that has a rifle rack with a shotgun in it (although his "tool of choice" is a Yamaha Raiden assault rifle, but you can't roll around with one of those in the window of your truck, not these days). He's part of an extended family of rednecks who're more than a little accepting of all types (members of the family are various shades of black, white, & yellow, as well as humans and orks), and the Wildes tend to live and work together. Buck lives with his parents and a passel of younger siblings and cousins, and his most common employer is his cousin Dathan, a fixer with ties to the Dixie Mafia.

Oh Steven, your character sounds like he's *wait for it* BUCK WILDE!

  You have all the lols.

Neysa wrote:

Oh Steven, your character sounds like he's *wait for it* BUCK WILDE!

  You have all the lols.

I am willing to share the lols with you, you know.  I'll make you the same offer that I've extended to Tom: if you want, you, too, can be a member of the Wilde Bunch.  You don't have to name your character "Wilde", but if you wanna be a cousin, cousin, it's all ohana, ya know?

"Dis my family. It large and loud and maybe a little dysfunctional, but it's still good. Yeah, still good."

In answer to your question about build is standard (though your character pretty well already covered that based on what you sent me), but also missions legal.

Here are the rules for that:
(Get them here: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/119272/Shadowrun-Missions-Season-5-Prep-Files )

Character Creation
Creating a character is done using the standard priority system presented in the Shadowrun, Fifth Edition rulebook. Be sure you have the latest printing or errata of the rulebook. Additional character creation methods that may be released in expansion material will not be used for Shadowrun Missions. Unless otherwise noted in this FAQ, no rule marked “Optional” or that is listed as being “At the Gamemasters Discretion” will be used for Shadowrun Missions play. All other expansion material will be allowed once its release grace period has elapsed (see below).

When creating a character for Shadowrun Missions, one thing to keep in mind is that when playing at conventions or in Open Play games, you never know who or what is going to show up at the table with you. Nor can you be certain that a given adventure will focus on one particular aspect of the game. Because of this, it’s usually not in your best interest to hyper-specialize a character. Gamemasters will do their best to keep all players engaged in the adventure and story, but if your character only does one thing, it doesn’t matter how well they do that thing if it’s not useful to the adventure or if there’s four other characters that are all able to do that thing as well. Keep flexibility and diversity in mind when designing a new character.

Rating and Availability
Any gear, including magic, cyberware, and bioware, may be purchased at character creation, provided the Availability is 12 or less and the Rating is 6 or less see (p. 94, SR5). Note that the Damage Value and Armor Rating of an item is not included in this, it is only items that have variable ratings levels you can purchase them at. Players may purchase normal, alpha, and used cyberware at character creation, but not beta or deltaware.

Wireless
Keep in mind that most gear is assumed to have some wireless function built into it, and many pieces of gear benefit from being connected to your Personal Area Network in some way. Skinlink is not available yet at this point, so you’ll either need to run wireless to take advantage of these bonuses, or run wires to your gear if you want to be protected (you’ll look like a fraggin’ antique with wires running all over the place, but don’t worry. Wires are cool again!).
With this in mind, you’ll likely either need to make sure you have a good decker in the group to protect you with his cyberdeck, and/or make certain you have a decent firewall on your commlink to protect your gear. Getting bricked (see p. 228, SR5) sucks.

Qualities
Most qualities are allowed in Missions play. However, since Missions are designed to be run in a tight time frame and because you may be playing under different gamemasters at different venues, some qualities simply cannot come into play or be enforced, and as such are disallowed. The following qualities are disallowed in Shadowrun Missions play:
Positives:
None at this time
Negatives:
• Bad Rep
• Code of Honor
• Dependent(s)
• Loss of Confidence
• Social Stress
• Unsteady Hands

Other Qualities such as Addiction, Allergy, and Incompetent normally require gamemaster approval. These are allowed with the restriction that they have to be something that is playable and appropriate to your character.
Allergies: All Allergies must be things that are possible to come up in a game session without the gamemaster having to go out of his way to introduce them. An allergy to uranium or Macronesian bee stings, for example, are things that are never likely to come up in a game, and thus would not be allowed.

Addiction: The Addiction must be to something that is either somewhat expensive, harmful to the character in the short term, and/or otherwise difficult to obtain. There are many serious, real-life examples of addictions that can be very harmful and have long-term effects on a person but would have little to no effect on a Shadowrun game, especially in the Missions format. Things like caffeine or cigarette addictions would fall into the “disallowed” category, as these can be harmful but are also legal, cheap, and easy to obtain. MMO and sex addiction likewise wouldn’t come up in play very often, other than as a minor distraction to the character. Narcotics, BTLs, and expensive gambling are all acceptable examples of Addictions that can be used in Missions.

Incompetent: This quality can only apply to a skill group that the character is likely to need and use on a regular basis. Outdoors, Engineering, Cracking, and Biotech are groups that should only be taken as incompetent if they would directly be a skill your characters build would use, such as a medic for Biotech, decker for Cracking, rigger for Engineering, etc. This should be a skill that has an impact on your character and your gameplay, not something easily ignored. Gamemasters may do a Character Audit before a game session, and if they deem a quality to be unsuitable, they may disallow it. Please consider your qualities carefully and do not try to abuse the system.

What about Exceptional Attribute and Lucky? Those say with Gamemaster Approval only.
Both of these are allowed in Missions.

How many points worth of Qualities can I take?
As per the rules under Purchasing Qualities (see p. 71, SR5), you may only take a maximum of 25 points worth of Positive Qualities, and 25 points worth of Negative Qualities. If you really wish, for roleplay purposes, you may take additional Negative Qualities, but you may never gain more than 25 karma for them regardless of how many you take.

Can I take specializations for my skills?
Yes, specializations are allowed following the examples laid out in the book. Choose either a specialty listed or one that’s similar, keeping in mind that a specialty should be a bonus you only get under certain specific circumstances. The only restriction to specializations is that for Unarmed Combat (see p. 131, SR5), you may only choose Blocking (+2 dice when defending), Striking (+2 dice when attacking), or Subduing (+2 dice when attempting to subdue/grapple an opponent). You may not choose Martial Arts, since that’s too broad and vague and requires knowledge of a martial art by both the player and the gamemaster to properly determine when bonuses would apply and when they wouldn’t.

Contacts
You are encouraged to carefully consider the contacts you choose and the fake SINs you purchase for your character. Both are incredibly useful. You’ll likely want (and even need) multiple SINs, because you can’t do much in the world of 2075 without one, and if they get burned, so do you!
In Missions, you will likely earn a fair number of contacts through gameplay. However, these contacts are frequently a part of the story and plot and are not always the most diverse, and they’re often limited in how high their loyalty will go. So we encourage you to make certain you have a diverse number of contacts at character creation to support your character and his chosen profession. A general fixer is always useful, and every runner should have one. Street and corp contacts are always worthwhile. Plus keep in mind that you need a way to get gear, so a decker should have a deckmeister or programmer, a street sammy should have an armorer or gunsmith, and a rigger should know a good mechanic or at least a used car salesman. Also, Season 5 takes place in the city of Chicago Atlanta, so contacts outside that region may be of limited use.

Note from Patrick: List them as generic, not hyper specific, but feel free to have notes on who they are for our campaign.

Are the Lifestyle Options allowed for Missions play?
Lifestyle Options (see p. 374, SR5) are allowed in general. However since Missions are pre-written and rarely take place at the character’s doss, the two negative options (Cramped and Dangerous Area) are not allowed since they will rarely, if ever, come up. Characters should consider the positive options carefully, as they will likely come into play rarely as well, so they may be a waste of money.
Team Lifestyles (see p. 375, SR5) are allowed, but if used all members of the team who are using this option must synchronize their Missions Calendars. This means that if one member needs to spend an entire month of downtime training and the other members do not, or if a player misses a Mission and “skips” a week, the other players must waste this time and still pay full lifestyle costs. This is done to prevent the Calendar weirdness that happens of one player being several months ahead of another player because he frequently needs extended downtimes, and thus is paying far more for his share of the rent.

Reposted from Facebook:

Me: So Steven's Shadowrun character is Jonas "Buck" Wilde. He has a large family. In discussions with Tony and Jodi tonight, we came up with one of the associated families - the Krace's (pronounced krasey, or crazy). In particular, there's a ork girl named Olivia who has the nickname of Plum. She's one of Buck's cousins, but she married into the Krace family. She is Olivia "Plum" Krace-Wilde.
Me: yes, in fact she is Plum Krace
Steven: I. LOVE. IT! We're a Wilde and Krace family! Bwah-ha-ha-ha!
Me: Yeah, that was 100% Jodi's idea. As was Plum

in other news, there also needs to be a character named Joker who is Jonah's brother (even if from another mother). Cause Joker's Wilde.

JulianAmici wrote:

in other news, there also needs to be a character named Joker who is Jonah's brother (even if from another mother). Cause Joker's Wilde.

Snicker-Snort! Now, this idea needs to be forwarded to Tom, my brutha from anotha mutha.  

waves hello to fun from hell. i miss fun. i miss a life. i miss MY life.... *finishes whining*

Poor baby.    

Here's a thought: once we figure out a makeup date for the one we're missing this weekend, perhaps you could request the time off, maybe see if Grandma might like to take Andi for the day (or two), and you and Jason could join in for the funs.

Alright, I'll lay claim on Joker. The question then becomes whether his nickname comes from having a zaniness that surpasses Otter, or being absolutely humorless. I'm leaning towards the latter. Either way, I suspect he acquired the name in the military, possibly the CAS Marine Corps.

Since our play-by-post went absolutely nowhere, I don't feel like I've properly played a dwarf in some time. Joker is a dwarf.

Inspiration! The Wilde bunch needs some kind of Awakened animal mascot (like a fire-breathing hogzilla), and its name shall be "Thang." Yes, people will point in its general direction and declare "That's where the Wilde Thangs are." This pet will be much beloved by the family who will say, "Wilde Thang, I think we love you!"

I can definitely come up with a pre-gen or two for you Liv. I mean the game is set in Atlanta, so it shouldn't be THAT alien to ya.

Gideon Shaw wrote:

Inspiration!  The Wilde bunch needs some kind of Awakened animal mascot (like a fire-breathing hogzilla), and its name shall be "Thang."

I wonder if we could rustle up a troglodyte somewhere... (I would also make a Tone-Loc reference, but right now I got nothin'.)

Wilde Thang's favorite treat is a little cocktail called "The Funky Cold Medina."

Maybe for a cadet branch of the Wilde Bunch (besides those Krace in-laws) could be the Goode family. Johnny B, Whippet, Seymour...

Semi-serious thought ("semi-serious" 'cause this involves game reality): Has anybody besides me thought about the weather in Georgia in 2075? Think about it for a moment. Unless you're planning on running the shadows only during the time between the last week of December and the first week or so of March, running around in a Lined Coat or Armor Jacket is gonna be a mite suspicious. Not to mention HOT. Does anybody remember that adventure we ran in the Kingdom of Hawai'i? I figure those rules for a tropical setting like that would work just as well in the CAS, especially Georgia & Florida, during the summer. That's why I opted for the Armor Vest and Orthoskin/Bone Lace combo. The Armor Vest is described as being able to be worn under clothing, and it has the same Armor Value as the Lined Coat. So, within the mechanics of the game, you can roll with an Armor Vest, a Hawaiian shirt, a pair of cargo shorts, and some flip-flops, and still be as well armored as that sweaty, over-heated doofus running around in a duster, jeans, boots, and flannel shirt (whether or not he has a cowboy hat is really a matter of whether or not he likes pissing off Injuns) and the cops eyeing him because he's dressed like that in Atlanta, not on the one day a year that it actually gets cold enough to warrant such an outfit.

So, my recommendation is this: invest in augmentations or powers or spells that provide you with bonus armor points without layering you up in armor. You can always have the armor jacket in the closet or the trunk of your car in case you know you're gonna be in trouble, but otherwise? Why drown in sweat if you don't have to?

Not a bad idea. I'd also suppose that locals would be at less of a disadvantage than out-of-towners when dealing with the heat. (Like native Denver folk not being as affected by the altitude as tourists.)

This made me smile: