BS&W: Using Your Karma Points
Good Karma
Good Karma is used between adventures to improve character ratings or gain benefits. A character can increase Physical and Mental Attributes 1 point by paying a number of Good Karma Points equal to the rating to which the Attribute is being raised. Raising a Strength of 5 to 6 would cost 6 Good Karma Points. Attribute Ratings cannot normally exceed the character’s racial maximum. However, if the gamemaster agrees, paying double the Good Karma Points can raise the Attribute above the racial maximum. For example, a human character who wanted to raise her Strength from 6 to 7 would have to spend 14 Good Karma Points to do so. The gamemaster should probably discourage players from raising a character’s Attributes to beyond 1.5 x the racial maximum. Good Karma can also raise Attributes that have been reduced for some reason. Though it is NEVER possible to use Karma to directly raise Reaction, Essence, and Magic, Reaction may change if Quickness or Intelligence is improved.
Skills
Skill Ratings can also be raised using Good Karma. Once the Karma has been paid, the Skill Rating goes up 1 point. Once the character has begun the game, improvements in general skills, Concentrations, and Specializations al happen sepa- rately. Increasing a general skill does not automatically change the Concentration, and so on.
Good Karma Cost For Skills
- General skills – 2 x New Rating
- Concentrations – 1.5 x New Rating
- Specializations – 1 x New Rating
- Languages – 1 x New Rating
Iris has specialized in Firearms Skill. Her current ratings are Firearms 1, Pistols 3, and Beretta 101T, her chosen weapon, of 5.
Raising her general Firearms Skill from 1 to 2 costs 4 Karma Points.
Raising her Pistols skill from 3 to 4 costs 6 Karma Points.
Raising her Beretta 101T skill from 5 to a Specialization 6 costs 6 Karma Points.
New Concentrations are based on the existing general skill score. If the character has Firearms 4 and wants to concentrate with Pistols at 5, the Concentration would cost 5 x 1.5, or 8 Karma Points.
New Specializations are based on the existing Concentration score. If the character does not have an appropriate Concentration, use the general skill. Thus, if the character only wants to improve with the Remington Roomsweeper, the Specialization would cost 5 x 1, or 5 Karma Points, to reach Rating 5 in that specialized skill.
New skills cost 1 point of Good Karma for the first rating point. A Hermetic magician must have unrestricted access to a sorcery library with a rating equal to, or greater than, the Sorcery Skill rating he wishes to acquire.
Karma Pool
One-tenth (round up) of all Karma earned goes into the character’s Karma Pool. The character can draw from it as needed during an encounter, but once the Karma Pool is emptied, it is no longer available for that encounter. The full value of the Karma Pool returns with the next encounter. (What constitutes an encounter? A single scene or event in the story. It might be a single location or several closely related areas. A running gun-battle might be a single encounter, or it might be a series of them. If the runners have time to catch their breath, it usually means a new scene, or encounter, has begun.)
Points from the Karma Pool can be used a number of ways.
Re-rolling Failure
A character can use 1 point from the Karma Pool to re-roll any test dice that failed. For example, the player rolls 4 dice and scores 2 successes. For 1 point of Karma, he can roll those 2 failed dice again. This process can be repeated, but each time it is done on a single test the Karma cost goes up by 1, until all the dice are successes or the character runs out of Karma.
Avoid an “Oops”
The Rule of One can be partially avoided. If all the character’s dice come up 1, it usually means a disastrous failure. Paying 1 point of Karma does not allow a re-roll, but does turn the disaster into a simple failure. Additional Karma cannot be spent on the failure.
Buy Additional Dice
A character may spend 1 point of Karma to buy an additional die for use in a test, up to a maximum of however many skill, Attribute, or rating dice are in use, not including other Pool dice. These karmic dice score, and are used, normally.
Buying Successes
It is also possible to purchase raw success at a cost of 1 Karma Point per success, but on two hefty conditions. First, the character has to generate at least 1 success normally through the test. No natural, regular successes, no karmic successes. Second, Karma Pool dice spent to buy a success are gone (pffft!) forever, expended permanently. They do not refresh with the pool in the next scene. Replacement Karma must be earned.
RPG systems Michael owns
This is a “top of my head” list, and I may have forgotten a few. Starred titles are systems I personally like.
- * Bunkers & Badasses (Tiny Tina of Borderlands runs an RPG)
- * Deadlands (alternate Wild West with Cosmic Horror)
- * Glitter Hearts (magical girls, also heavy on role-play)
- * PARANOIA XP Edition
- * Shadowrun Eds. 1-6
- * Space: 1889
- * Star Wars (the 90s D6 version)
- * Teenagers From Outer Space (wacky anime school comedy)
- * The Excellents (She-Ra for kids and kids-at-heart)
- * Thirsty Sword Lesbians (more role-playing, less combat dice)
Do You Remember Second Edition?
I’ve had the Core Rulebook PDF for Shadowrun Fifth Edition for a while, but now I have the physically massive hardcopy. Thing should have its own Damage Code. I’m not crazy about how the setting has “grown up” in the last couple editions. Part of the fun of Shadowrun is that it’s a bit mad. It’s a solid brand, you don’t have to justify it now by going all SRS BZNS. Any Shadowrun I gamemaster will always have that Discordian wobble.
Also, Technomancers are still complete bullshit.
Mom is doing well in the Durham rehab facility. Driving an hour each way to see her is pretty rough, though.
Maya’s and my perfect Valentine’s date is the LEGO Batman Movie, and it’s up there with “Batman 1966” and “Mask of the Phantasm” as my favorite Batman film. Lots of fun, plus Real Talk about The Dark Knight. Also, it was that or a “Fifty Shades” movie, and we weren’t going any where near that one.
I found an English version of “Do You Remember Love” from the Macross ’84 movie of the same subtitle. I’m impressed, though as always I’d have chosen different rhyme and scansion options in some places. Not like I can sing.
Speaking of YouTube, here’s human beings landing a rocket at a spaceport: not crashing into the ocean, but actually landing. I’ve waited a lot of years to see this happen in real life.
Managlitch City Underground released Episode 27 – Shockwaves on February 22nd. Seven weeks between episodes isn’t terrible but I’d like to do better. I remember when it was every couple of weeks. Life, man.
Lastly, I’m going to invent a document type called the Journalled Information Format just so we can argue about the pronunciation of .jif files.
Character overview: Anderwol “Skid” Dersitaliantis
History:
Anderwol is the first of the Dersitaliantis clan to make it big as a shadowrunner, though not the last. His family members are known for their inability to hold on to money, and one could often find Skid crashed on a friend’s couch or in a Barrens squat, waiting for the next job to improve his situation for a few weeks.
That Skid started his career as a wage mage for a medium-size megacorp is fairly certain, though he doesn’t like to talk about it much and was almost certainly let go under unfortunate circumstances. Like many another mage on the streets, the drain of spellcasting began to catch up to him, and he turned to cyber-implants to try and hang on to his edge.
Skid’s fortunes turned when he hooked up with the TeeFive runner society, though, and when he finally left the shadows for good, he bought a run-down bar on the edge of the Redmond Barrens called the Zombie Zoo. It’s nowhere trendy to be seen, but it’s a good place to get drunk off quality exotic liquor while listening to really bad live music, and so shadow talent does show up there from time to time.
Personality:
Skid is vague, slothful, and sometimes crude. He’s not an easy man to like, but he never forgets those who help him out, and has sometimes put his life on the line for what he considers an honorable debt. He drinks and sleeps a lot, but somehow retains a keen instinct for magic.
Appearance:
Skid is over six feet tall, with a battered, unhealthy look to him. He’s usually unshaven, and his visible cyberware is usually scuffed and nicked. Skid dresses like an escapee from a 1970s disco, in recent years favoring a Sergeant Pepper jacket and bell-bottoms he picked up in some thrift store.
Favorite weapon:
There’s always an AK-98 assault rifle within arm’s reach of Skid if he has anything to say about it, and though he hates to do so, he’s ready to cast a mana bolt if the situation demands it.
Quirks:
Skid is a walking quirk. His collection of physical twitches, odd speech patterns, and out-of-focus gazes cause most people to give up talking to him within minutes. Still, adversaries underestimate him at their peril.
Rumors:
It’s said (especially by competing bar owners) that the Zombie Zoo isn’t named so for its decor of tombstones and ragged clothing on the faux-gore-streaked waitstaff, but that Skid actually performs experiments in the bar’s basement with the goal of reanimating dead tissue. If asked directly about this, Skid usually makes a remark about his genitals that no one wants to hear.
Character overview: Terry “Krasivi” Demidova
History:
Terry’s Russian parents were killed in a bioweapons attack on their home city. She was picked up by a corporate ‘recruitment’ squad, and trained in computers and combat to become one of their shadow operatives. When she completed their training program, she was partnered with Tina Mallyrn, and together they formed the destructive but successful team known as the “Sirens”. On the streets, she calls herself “Krasivi” (“gorgeous”), but those around her call her “Krazy”. They don’t do so to her face, however.
When Terry and Tina were double-crossed and left for dead by their superiors, they extricated themselves leaving a trail of bodies, and declared war against their former corporate patron, which no longer exists. They became free-lance mercenaries, and have since been put on permanent retainer by the Global Security Services Corporation.
Personality:
Terry is loud, sometimes quite silly, and capable of irrational bursts of anger. She’s only completely loyal to her best friend Tina, but would never betray an employer or friend who treats her honorably and well.
Appearance:
Krasivi is about 5’3″ tall, redheaded, and freckles a bit in the sun. While not muscled as a bodybuilder, she’s strong and fit, and has an iron constitution. On a job, Tina and Terry both usually wear heavy polymer full-body combat armor which has been enchanted to be completely transparent; it frequently amuses them to wear little more than lingerie beneath.
Favorite weapon:
Terry likes loud bangs, and usually carries an autoshotgun with a grenade launcher, or a man-portable missile launcher if she thinks she can justify it.
Quirks:
Terry sometimes has poor impulse control, and will do the most foolish things if they seem like a good idea for a moment. So far, luck, her own skills, and Tina’s help have kept any of her follies from causing her too much harm.
Rumors:
The street says that Terry and Tina enjoy creating amateur pornography in their off hours, but this is most likely just a reaction to the constant titillation of their armor choice.
Character overview: “Professor” Glenn Karter
History:
Glenn Karter was born in Virginia only a few years before it became part of the reborn Confederate States of America. Of middle-class origins, he made friends easily and by this mid-twenties had connections in several mid-Atlantic corporate entities and government bureaus. Showing an uncanny sense of timing, he frequently showed up in the right places at the right times to help out a friend or two, and by the 2050s he was moderately wealthy and even better connected.
By 2060, Karter’s Global Security Services Corporation began to make a name for itself. A smaller corp, it resisted every takeover bid by the megacorps; including, it’s said, several shadow-based attempts. Part mercenary unit, part philanthropic organization, part high-end R&D think tank, the GSSC often seems to be around when something bizarre’s going down. Karter is often there in person for the fireworks, and loves it.
His aliases when he’s working the streets to his own ends have included Professor K, Grinner, and Jack Mega. His employees often privately refer to Karter as Himself.
Personality:
Karter is good-humored, humble, and fairly quiet unless provoked, when his anger can blind like a flare grenade. He has an unfortunate habit of explaining a situation with obscure references and chains of logic no one else can follow.
Appearance:
Karter stands about six feet tall, and has a generally skinny build with a slight swivel-chair paunch he’s always trying to lose. He has shaggy sandy-brown hair, grey eyes, and usually wears a neatly trimmed beard and mustache. Karter is fond of vaguely paramilitary clothing, with styles and emblems that make him look like an officer in a military organization that never existed.
Favorite weapon:
When involved in a run, Karter’s often seen wearing a fencing rapier which may be infused with orichalcum, which is odd as he has no known magical abilities that the arcane metal would aid. When he desires a ranged weapon, there’s usually a prototype GSSC ionized plasma pistol on his hip, which can be tuned to deliver the non-lethal damage he prefers.
Quirks:
Karter absolutely refuses to watch an episode of any of the seventeen incarnations of Star Trek, and will leave the room if any are shown in his presence.
Rumors:
Researching Karter’s past brings up contradictions about various cities where he was born, his exact date of birth, and his precise climb to wealth and power. There is at least a small group of conspiracy theorists who believe that Karter’s past is completely manufactured, and that he’s an advance scout for an alien invasion. If this theory is mentioned to Karter, he will gleefully attest to its accuracy.
Karter may have a double to do some of his more shadowy work; some say he’s been seen in two far-separated areas of Seattle at the same time.
Character overview: April “Nebula” Vincent
History:
April entered the shadowrunning scene as a small-time indie rockergirl playing what clubs she could find, but as her reputation grew, she became well-known all over Seattle and even some places beyond. A talented decker as well, she made money off several bootleg albums by breaking into record company financial computers and taking what she felt was fair. The record companies used this in advertising, and everyone ended up happy.
Eventually, Nebula joined the Global Security Services Corporation worldwide troubleshooting company, where she theoretically works in HR, but often seems to be out on murky ‘special projects’.
Personality:
Bubbly and intelligent are the first terms that come to mind when describing this woman. She’s almost always charismatic and high-spirited, both of which serve her well on stage; and she loves a good puzzle to solve.
Appearance:
Nebula is tall with broad shoulders and hips. She has blue eyes, a narrow nose, and very dark black hair that she usually wears short on the right and waist-length on the left. Her eyebrows have an odd double curve that make them look like small comets. For street wear, she favors armored leathers, usually in asymmetric cuts to match her hairstyle. Her decking icon is a woman made of stars: a walking constellation.
Favorite weapon:
While she normally prefers to charm adversaries with her music, or ruin their credit ratings with her deck, Nebula has learned that sometimes the direct approach is best. She therefore has become quite skilled in the use of military-grade sniper rifles: she feels that the best fight is one that’s over before it gets to her.
Quirks:
Nebula will sometimes zone out in the middle of a stressful situation, which oddly enough will not prevent her from taking an active part in it though she’s “away”. Sometimes, she will even start singing, quietly or loudly. When she comes out of it, she will seem to be unaware of what just transpired.
Rumors:
After 20 years of adventuring, Nebula still looks about twenty-five years old, and no one can find any proof of surgery or magical preservation. She’s also rather vague about her childhood when asked; the street says she sprang into existence at 25 and is holding there.
She is believed to be the sometime bed partner of Glenn Karter, the owner of the GSSC.
