Christopher

But he only wants to help you. Regardless with what:
 
 

Sitrep: We've been hired to recover a set of experimental skillchips. The thief has plugged one into his own head, thinks and acts like Ghenghis Khan, and has started uniting Seattles biker gangs.

GM: I've forgotten your name.
Ben: ....Albert the Terrible

Felix: We need assistance to recover some free-range chips
Labrat: Sounds like a runaway potato.

Labrat: I've got ShadowNet and Shadowknowledge.
Inkubus: Eh, all those guys think I'm a freak.
Felix: ....
Inkubus: oh come on, I feed you a straight line like that?

Inkubus: The only thing you need to know about experience is this - Are you still breathing? Is there still a chance you'll be paid? Then you're doing fine.

We are, to put it mildly, a visually diverse group. Labrat, the Orc we're recruiting, is wearing a Zoot suit. Felix is wearing an immaculate set of gloves, and a coat that costs more than some cars. Greenlight has a bandana over his face (and so does his player). Titus the troll has a sledgehammer and gardening gloves hanging from his belt, and Warhammer, the ex-military dwarf is kitted out in combat armour. Inkubus the elven metal mage is wearing tattered jeans and hair down to his waist.

Inkubus: And no shirt. In Seattle. I take my fashion seriously.

Felix: We look like a 'Know Your Meta-Human' poster.

Inkubus and Felix are singing 'Zoot Suit Riot' - Inkubus knows the music, and Felix's history education including the race riots in question.

Labrat: Zoot-suits have a lot of advantages. *Shows off giant shoulder holster*
Felix: I'll shut up now.

Back to the hotel we're keeping the chip designer Teehee holed up at - assuming we can actually locate the erstwhile Khan, we need to know how to safely extract the chip. Teehee, however, manages to set the testboard on fire. Felix uses the fire extinguisher on the set-up, and on the designer.

Felix: You were smouldering. *to Labrat* Is he out yet?
Labrat: Give him another shot.
Inkubus: And you say you wouldn't fit in at one of my parties.

Inkubus hits the bars, looking for information. Apparently at least three of the gangs have already joined the new Khanate, and the Halloweeners - deranged psychopaths all - are in negotiation. Inkubus also manages to score an invite to the meeting of the biker gangs.

Felix: An invite that's actually relevant to this investigation, or to one of those parties that'll make the skin crawl off my shoulderblades?

Felix: So you're a biker's moll now?

We have a plan - Inkubus, Titus, Greenlight and Labrat will disguise themselves as a biker gang, acquire transport, and talk their way into the heart of the meeting. Meanwhile, Warhammer and Felix will have set up shot of a neighbouring rooftop, with sniper rifle and binoculars. One interesting thing about magic in Shadowrun is that line-of-sight effects work through optical devices. Magical snipers are a thing. As are non-magical snipers. A few bullets into the heads of various gang leaders should make the political situation on Seattle's streets veeeeerrrrry interesting. But will they be able to pass themselves off as bikers?

Inkubus: Ten minutes in a thrift shop, I can make you fit.

Greenlight is dressed like one of Inkubus' groupies.

Felix: Oh god, it's happening already.
Inkubus: I dont get it, Greenlight - you can do outfits like this, but when you walk around you look like your mother dressed you.
Greenlight: Hey, Inkubus, I think your outfit is missing one of these *flips the bird*

Three bikers provide the transport, and hours of entertainment for everybody else at the bar.

Inkubus: I hit them with a force five Orgy.
Titus: Sounds like a hurricane.
Felix: 'I call this one Katrina'

Inkubus: 'Where's my bike? And why is my dick in your ass?'
Greenlight: 'It happens sometimes...'
Inkubus: 'Godammit, it happened again!'
Labrat: 'But we're nowhere near the Blue Oyster Bar!'

But what to call themselves? Since all the bikes they're using happen to be Harley-Davidson Skorpions...

Felix: Deathstalkers, Mankillers
Warhammer: Crotchrockets

And what will Inkubus call himself when they're talking their way past the crowd of bikers, mosh pit, and Jumbotron TVs?

Greenlight: Lucifer.
Inkubus: I hate it. Let's go.
Warhammer: We could always call you Lucy.

Inkubus is quite impressed by the style on show at he biker gathering - the New Khanate outfits are actually pretty hardcore.

Inkubus: I feel like I'm betraying my path.... But I am being paid a ludicrous amount.

But, they do manage to brazen their way past the guards on the warehouse door - sheer elven charisma and the ability to wink at any women in the crowd and make them gush (such a useful spell, Orgasm) - even lets them drive their bikes into the building. That will be useful for the getaway.

Felix: I was expecting the fight to have started already. Working with Inkubus, you soon learn to exercise your pessimism.

GM: Cooperman is dressed like Ghenghis Khan. But from one of the bad movies.
Felix: The Conqueror.
Labrat: Argh!
Inkubus: Successful stunbolt.
Felix: Does he have a red-haired Irish Tartar princess?

Titus signals for the shot. Warhammer ventilates the skull of one of the gang leaders, Felix Stunballs the bikers filming everything for the Jumbotron, everybody outside sees the assassination live on a three-story tall screen, Inkubus screams "It's the cops! The Khan has set us up!", and the full-scale biker battle lights up.

Warhammer: This is the best six seconds of my life.

Felix: What we've done here will one day be an entire chapter in a book on Seattle history

Felix: One thing we take away from this night's work? The bike gangs of Seattle will never ally again.

It all works very well indeed. The two snipers deal with any leaders that are trying to get away, or organise the bikers into a cohesive response, with the other four hurl spells and concussion grenades and dead bikers around until they can grab the Khan, throw him over the back of one of the bikes, and get the hell out. Felix and Warhammer make a more leisurely retreat, while the explosives Labrat stashed in bins on the street outside the warehouse discourage pursuit. That's the cue for Lone Star law enforcement to move in - running street battles are one thing, but actual explosions decrease property values.

Titus: I like my sledgehammer.
Inkubus: The spirit of John Henry is strong in this one

The leader of the Halloweeners goes after Titus with a knife.

Greenlight: There's crazy stupid, and then there's crazy stupid.

Just in case Cooperman/Khan didn't have the other two chips on his person, they do a quick search before they leave. But the only tech is a computer that was ancient even when the module was written.

Felix: Why is the monitor all green?

Cooperman doesn't have the other chips. And dies screaming when they get the Khan chip out. This is bad. However, they do have a clue - Cooperman was apparently going to be meeting his own client at a Hollywood simsense industry party that very night. And his phone includes proof that our own client's business partner was in on the original theft. Unfortunately, we also think to ask Teehee who the other two chips were modelled after - Cleopatra III, and Jack the Ripper.

All: *assorted violent expletives*
Labrat: Why would you DO that?!?
Teehee: It was my job!

Since our heretek's player was ill, and the scenario is still very Shadowesque, and his character is busy with the scrapcode generator anyway...

Jrska OoC: Our decker ODed on Red Bull

But on with the plot - locating and stealing the dataspool our client wants. They're large cylinders, indistinguishable without expert knowledge. So our client has provided us with a one-shot, wide field teleporter beacon. We're going to steal the entire vault.

Rold: I'm surprised Jrska didn't run with 'large cylindrical object'

Cassius is feeling the lack of his Force Staff, the Doomwind. But until he can get it exorcised, he daren't even touch it. We put his subsequent pathetic performance down to his combat reflexes being thrown off.

Jrska OoC: 'I'll hit them with my sta- F**K... I'll parry with my sta-F**K!'
Cassius OoC: I'll plant my sta-FFFFFFFFFFFF

Aladar van Rijn, on the other hand, proves spectacularly lethal with a looted shotgun.

Jrska: Aladar finally succeeds at something!
Cassius OoC: Clearly he is intimidated by my staff
Jrska OoC: Performance anxiety -
Cassius OoC: - whenever the space marine is waving his staff around

After that we have to pick our way past all the security around the vault, using such ploys as have Rold dropping on the patrols from the ceiling.

GM: NPCs never look up.
Jrska: I am.
GM: Well yes, you're PCs.
Jrska: No, I'm admiring the way Rold's muscles are flexing. Yummy.
Rold: You can't see them, I'm in power armour.
Jrska: I have a vivid imagination

Jrska takes the opportunity to flex her pheromone enhancers, and other assets, to 'distract' the still-human security assets of one ring.

Jrska: *leaning insouciantly against a bulkhead and purring* Hi, boys.... I'm here to check the caliber of your weapons.

The best bit of this scene was watching Cassius' player cringe and facepalm.

Tech-priest: Thank Chaos we have no vow of Chastity!
Jrska: Why don't you invite some more friends, and we really make a party of it?

Jrska OoC: "Meanwhile, in the walls..."
Cassius: I am going to kill you all
Jrska: At least we'll die happy.

Arch-Magos: Why has the security deck ordered an additional supply of lubricant?

That security detail die with a smile on their faces, at least, and Jrska is certainly cheery. But the final, unexpected security - a rotating corridor and a sentry-servitor armed with a graviton gun and other weapons - proves troublesome.

Jrska: I don't mind being helpless on my back sometimes, but...

But Rold deals with it, and that graviton gun alone is a valuable prize. Being able to immobilise a squad of heavily armed and armoured enemies under their own weight makes for lots of fun. Thus the data vault - and all the other knick-knacks collected there - are whisked back to our client's starship, where he reveals his actual target. Not the dataspools themselves, but the mainframe data-engine they are all plugged into. Clever! He lets us help ourselves to the dataspools, and other trophies - he only wanted the hardware.

Cassius: We need to get Cog a roomful of things to experiment with.
Jrska: I keep offering things for him to experiment with, but he always turns me down.

Having acquired a vault-full of plot hooks, what next? The 'Chains of Judgement' still has all its Inquisitorial symbols on the hull - useful for getting around Imperial Space, but likely to attract aggression in the Screaming Vortex.

Rold: We'll hang a big sign outside the ship saying 'not a chaos ship, honest' and change the name to 'She's one of ours, Captain.'
Cassius: I always liked 'The Righteous Indignation'

Jrska: Cruise up to an Imperial ship and tell them 'Pull over, we've heard rumours of heresy'. Or turn up to an Imperial planet and tell them 'We're here for all your psykers - line them up'
GM: What will you do for Sisters of Silence?
Jrska: *shrugs* I'll make some costumes for my Kingfisher Girls. Skin-tight black silk, rrrrrrrrrrrrr... Extra straps... *drools*

A rumour of an alien artefact, left garrisoned with Ultramarines during the Horus Heresy 10,000 years ago, sounds intriguing. If the report is true, it's a psychic beacon to rival the Astronomicon that every ship in the Imperium uses to navigate the Warp. But first, some kind of holographic disguise for our ship, so we can get past Imperial and Chaos warships alike. That at least prevents Jrska from having to grab a random crewmember or three to prove her credentials every time they're trying to get past some warlord's flagship.

Jrska: Would an inquisitor do THIS?

Not that she minds grabbing random crewmembers, but having to do it just to prove a point would be tiresome. The plan becomes - 1) find a way out of the Vortex, 2) sneak into the Koronus Expanse, avoiding Imperial and Chaos forces where possible, 3) capture some Eldar from somewhere, and trade a few hundred of them to the Stryxis in return for holo-tech. The GM's starmaps prove unfortunately lewd.

GM: .... I'm going to stop drawing now.
Jrska OoC: The Smut Field is holding.

So off towards Imperial Space, to wreak havoc.

The hosts for tonight's game are planning a videocast series about Saturday Morning Cartoons. When I got there they were watching Silverhawks, and trying not to tear their own eyes out.

GM: This needs less cheese
Peanut Gallery: The kebab you're eating or Silverhawks?



In Shadowrun, before we can actually leave our meeting with the client, the doors burst open and two very obvious armed ork bodyguards enter, bracing a third ork. Naturally, the PCs dive for cover and Inkubus and Felix fire off some spells - Stunball, in the case of Felix, and Orgy (the area effect Orgasm spell) from Inkubus. This promptly stuns the Ork trio into a highly embarrassing state, and in the case of one, into a coma. But before we can follow up with gel rounds to ensure they stay down, the client identifies the intruder as Junior, the goblinized son of Global Technologies' founder. This is somewhat embarrassing, but what did he expect would happen if he burst into a roomful of armed shadowrunners? At least we prefer non-lethal responses.Junior seems a bit disgruntled about the job we've been hired to do. But then, having to borrow towels from the bar to clean up the after-effects of Inkubus' spell might explain that.

Felix: You know, it may have been a non-lethal spell, but there exist people who are MORE likely to have you killed for doing that sort of thing to them. Especially in public.

Greenlight: He sounds like a villain from Neil the Ork Barbarian... Not that I watch that show.



Anyway - the missing chip designer, Teehee, wiped the computers before he fled, but we are given a boxful of stuff from his desk and apartment to investigate. It includes tickets to a recent Urban Brawl match - quite a popular sport.

Felix: Now in 3D!
Greenlight: And Smellovision!
Inkubus: Actually, no-one has ever successfully marketed an Urban Brawl sim-sense.



One oddity of infotech in 2050 - no wireless network. That's just one of the things that makes playing things like Riggers difficult in that era.

Titus: Now I'm picturing a rigger getting defeated because somebody decided to microwave a burrito



The box also includes a range of data and sim chips.

Felix: What kind of porn is it?
GM: ...BBDW
Felix: Big Breasted... Dwarf Women?

Felix: I didn't know dwarves were that flexible

GM: The last chip is slightly different.
Titus: BBOW
Felix: Ork Women?
Titus: Yup.
Felix: At least it's not all midget porn.



Happily, other clues point us towards a possible friend of Teehee's - his old college professor.

Felix: And the other seven photos are him and his college cronies drinking til they puke?
Titus: Frat boys frats boys frat boys Clue!

Greenlight's player: I'm sorry, I've done cyberforensics and I'm having trouble getting into the mindset of a game written before I was born.

Felix: Is there a dwarven stripper bar we can stake out? Hooters, with burrowing owls as the mascot?

Felix: I'm starting to wonder why the client wanted mages and adepts for this job, instead of infotech specialists
Inkubus: They're experimental skill chips. We'd be less likely to try them out.
Felix: Good point.
Inkubus: Experimental military skill chips, stolen by a runner team that knew what they were after.
Felix: .... We're going to need more firepower, aren't we?



Happily, Greenlight knows a disgraced ex-military dwarf who can help. We speculate about his handle - Longbarrel?

Titus: That sounds too much like a porn star name
Felix: Well, there's all that midget porn - maybe that's where we know him from.
Titus: 'I swear I know your face from somewhere...'
Dwarf: 'You might know me from such films as'



His handle is actually Warhammer.

Felix: Still sounds like a porn name.
Greenlight: And the troll might use you as an improvised weapon.
GM: And your real name is Michael Jordan - no relation.

Greenlight: I know a dwarf with a lot of firepower
Titus: Is that a euphemism?

Greenlight: This is Warhammer.
Felix OoC: Is he grimdark? Overpriced? Ridiculously cheesy?

Inkubus: I'm not a fruit!
Greenlight: We've encountered four men tonight that he's pleasured.
GM: One into a coma.



We spot one of Junior's bodygaurds watching us as we drive off. Inkubus Orgasms him again, thus leaving TWO unconscious orks for the ambulance to collect.

Puzzled Medical mage: His pleasure centres are lit up like Christmas trees!
Medic: So he hired a magical hooker?
Mage: Probably?

Medic: What happened to them?
Mage: I dunno, but I'm hearing this music - Bow Chicka Wow Wow

Greenlight's player: If Kevin plays an ork we'll have the complete set.
Inkubus' player: I think he is.
Greenlight's player: Hat trick!



One of the clues leads us to a grocery store near the university, frequented by Teehee, and as it happens, Titus. But then, Titus' hobbies include gardening, shadowrunning, and accountancy. Felix and Inkubus are delighted to find that the store has actual real vegetables too.

Inkubus: This is how Felix and I bond - we both love real food.
GM: They even have chocolate - the real thing.
Inkubus: Mine! Mine! Mine!
Felix: Is that Brazilian???
Inkubus: Mine! Oh, I'll be nice - I'll share it with you.
Felix: Lettuce! They have lettuce!

Inkubus: If you saw five strange men waiting in your usual store, and they said “Doctor Hendricks, can I have a word“ how would you react? That's right - you'd run.



The party split up, to cover more leads, avoid spooking the targets, and salivate over the chocolate.

Felix: I'll be tweeting about this.
Inkubus: Me too.

Greenlight: Is this an apple?
Felix: That's a persimmon.
Inkubus: Easy mistake to make.
Greenlight: How do I eat it?
Titus: With your face.



Professor Hendricks gives up without a fight - that people have been hunting for Teehee is apparently no surprise. Indeed, the chip designer is hiding out at Hendrick's one-room apartment, and spending most of his time jacked into the Matrix. We stand around his oblivious form, and send an email.

'You have 60 seconds to jack out or we pull the plug.'

Felix: You might like to know that there are a number of large and ugly men looking for you - and we're not all of them.
Inkubus: Speak for yourself - I'm gorgeous.
Warhammer: At least he didn't say that he's 'fabulous.'



Teehee is full of all sorts of interesting facts. The missing chips are 'personality chips' based on illegal Better Than Life technology, designed to give the user the skill set, artificial memories, and so on. Junior knows about this, including the illegal aspects. Teehee left a copy of all the chip details on Junior's desk computer - useful info. The client did seem eager to get Junior out of his corporate hair, and this way they might get their designer back too.

The shadowrunners that stole the chips with Teehee's help stiffed him on the fee, and he hasn't heard from them since. They even left one of their number shot down in the car park, which is news to us, but news we can track down.

But first, Teehee should be moved to another, safer locale, while corporate shenanigans ensue. Warhammer points out that if we're trying to hide from Junior's goons at Global Industries, the hotel charges on the expense account will be a bit of a giveaway. Besides, Titus can present the client with an itemised bill, later.

Inkubus: Titus and me are sitting on Teehee.
Felix: Not literally I hope.
Titus: Well, no.
Felix: 'He's not going anywhere - ever again.'



The others use their contacts to track down the abandoned runner shot by corporate security - she's at a specialist clinic. We do our best to stay in the doctor's good graces.

Felix: This is the man that may be sewing up your duodenum next month. You wouldn't want him to leave a pair of scissors inside you.
Inkubus: By 'accident'



The wounded runner is very pissed off with her former team leader Cooperman too, and is eager to drop him in the shit. Greenlight reassures her we only want the chips, and warns her that they are dangerously experimental. And gives her more details about the chips than is wise, given client confidentiality.

Titus: No more solo jobs for Greenlight until he gets over this 'honesty' thing.



We also learn that Cooperson is a history buff - particularly of the Mongol Khanate. Inkubus makes the connection.

Inkubus: Teehee... These personality chips... These experimental military skill chips... Were any of them based on Ghenghis Khan?
Teehee: ... Yes?
Felix: ..... Christ. If I check the news now we're going to see a small man with a pointy furry hat, riding a tiny horse through downtown Seattle, aren't we?



Close. If we'd been watching the news instead of checking Facebook, Tumblr, and writing expense claims, we'd already know that somebody claiming to be Ghenghis Khan has united three of Seattle's biker gang - or at least the gangs are finding him entertaining enough to go along with this, for now. Felix is suddenly glad they have Warhammer along for fire support. No doubt the other missing chips are even worse.

Aladar's warpsight mutation kicks in. Jrska is somewhat displeased with Aladar's reaction to the sight of her

Cog: What kind of Slaaneshi cultist are you? You're supposed to like screams.
Jrska: Screams of agonised ecstacy, sure. That was a scream of fear. *to Aladar, in tones of careful warning* I hope that doesn't mean you don't like what you see, sweety.

Anyway, the ship still needs repairs, and the hereteks have the skill and material we need. But what do we offer them in return? Perhaps our own heretek can negotiate.

Jrska: This is Cog's time to shine.
Cog: To crash and burn - i think you said that wrong

Jrska: Aladar wasn't a pirate, he was a rogue trader. There's a small difference.
GM: A small difference

Cassius intends to get his force staff exorcised.

Jrska: That should be interesting to watch. If you don't mind, we'll watch from orbit.
Aladar: You can always do it on Mammon. Nothing there to wreck.
Cassius: Hey! They might be religious nuts -
Jrska: But they're OUR religious nuts

And Cassius can cannibalise bits from the dead berserker's armour, to repair his own. That best-quality armourer's kit Jrska bought Rold (as part of her long-term plan to subvert his loyalty) will come in handy.

Jrska OoC: 'Pass me that socket wrench - the one with the silver inlay. And skulls.'

Jrska OoC: The former occupant leaks out through the holes.

But our Navigator's prognostications have urged him to bypass the Ragged Helix, and take us to the gigantic Universe-class ship and it's attendant battlecruisers, that a particular heretek uses as a mobile dry-dock for multiple starships.

Jrska: Isn't it nice when the help acts unilaterally.

The Arch-magos of the repair fleet has already heard of us, and is willing to repair and refit the Chains of Judgement if we do a little mercenary work for him - infiltrate the starbase of a rival heretek, introduce scrapcode into his datasystems, steal certain data-spools, and help ourselves to anything else that isn't nailed down. Our GM has inadvertently crafted a scenario well suited for an entirely different game.

Jrska OoC: So we're doing a shadowrun. We're deniable assets for one technology group, against another. It's Shadowrun with more skulls and ankle-length robes. And Pauldrons. Mustn't forget the pauldrons.
GM: Seniority is determined by the size of your pauldrons and hat. If your have pauldrons AND a hat, you're the most important person on the field
Aladar: I take off my hat.
Jrska: It's ok, sweety, anybody can tell you're not worth a sniper's bullet.

Although this does beg the question of what are we going to do about our own Arch-Magos? The more work we have done on the ship, the more likely 'Father' will realise we're not loyal imperial citizens, and do something about it. Perhaps= Jrska can do something, assuming'Father' still has any biological components?

'Father': That is my earlobe. Stop that.
Cog: 'That is my dignity'
Jrska OoC: I thought you lost that ages ago.

'Father': Shall. We. End. This. Pretence? I have seen. The modifications. You have made. To yourself. While they are not. As impressive. As the modifications I have made to myself. They too. Violate dogma.

'Father' is willing to admit that he too is heretekical. This is good news. Now we can all be happy traitors together, at least until the sudden and inevitable betrayal. Anyway - the Arch-magos running the drydock arranges to have us teleported into the rival's space station, while his fleet and the station indulge in live weapons testing on each other. We appear in a cornfield. This is momentarily confusing, until we realise we're in one of the overgrown agridomes on the giant station.

Rold OoC: Khorne flakes. They're violently delicious.

We are promptly attacked by a pair of Grox. Grox are the preferred livestock of the Imperium, despite the fact that they're hippo-sized vicious armoured omnivores that have to be lobotomised at hatching to stop them killing each other, and the herders.

Jrska OoC: 40k - even the food is grimdark!

Jrska leaps onto the back of one of the enraged beasts. Mostly because it's fun.

GM: Jrska has done what she does best and jumped on top of things.
Jrska: I have a rampaging grox between my legs.
Cog: Oh god, the noises.

Jrska: Maybe I need to get some backless chaps.
All: *fall silent as this image derails everybody's train of thought*

GM: You're in a maze of corridors.
Aladar OoC: So the corn is still around? Since we're in a maize section?
All: *howls of outrage*

To get part the heavy security presence, we have Cog lure two Tech-priests into a stairwell where we can kill them and steal their robes. Whilst they are suspicious about this techpriest they don't recognise, they opt to investigate immediately, rather than notify central security first.

Jrska OoC: Obviously the Arch-magos hasn't read the Evil Overlord list.

Cassius: We only need one pair of intact robes.
Aladar: Robes or lobes?
Jrska: Robes. If Cassius explodes their heads there wont be any intact lobes.

He doesn't just explode their heads. The first tech-priest... goes away. Loudly enough to get the attention of the one standing guard over Cog. The resulting melee gets quite bloody, if brief and one-sided.

Jrska: Just as well tech-priest robes are red, isn't it?

And thus Jrska patches up the robes, and prepares to hide under Cassius' robes and jiggle the looted cybernetics so we'll all pass as Tech-priests, at least from a distance.

GM: You have a sewing kit?... If it was any other character, I wouldn't believe you.

Jrska: And I'll manipulate the dangling bits.
Cog: *chokes*
Cassius: You're used to it.

GM: I can believe Jrska has the thigh strength to hang off Cassius' waist - I don't doubt it.

Aladar: You've got wings now?
Jrska: Yup, Cassius and Rold both do. I've got Wings too, but only at that time of the month.
All: *headdesk*

Jrska: I'll draw my splinter pistol and neural whip. If I jiggle it about maybe they'll think it's a mechadendrite.

The subsequent melee goes well for the party, despite wary security forces and murder-servitors. Our decker - sorry, Cog - uploads his IC - sorry, scrapcode, into the unsecured node - sorry, data cogitators... look, forget it - the first part of the 40K Shadowrun is going well - merry hell is breaking loose in the space station's data systems, and we're free to start the hunt for things to loot.

Afaik official Backstory was that the "big three "(Poseidon and the twins Zeus/Hades) are not allowed to have children anymore. Because in that setting Hilter was Hades Son, or something.
It isn't an iron rule - just try to not to overdo it Zeus style and keep the offsprings hidden.
Also Artemis in that setting only "adopts" children, instead of having them.

Hungry Ghosts
 
The Hungry Ghosts are a band of dissident metahumans in the PRC who oppose the government. The group was founded in secret after the Tiananmen Square Massacre. The members consist of from left to right.
 
August General The August General is the founder of the Hungry Ghosts, a retired general, he stole a high tech suit of armor from the Chinese military before going into hiding.
 
Supple Willow is able to control plants, and is an accomplished martial artist.
 
Brother Ox Brother Ox is a giant of a man, super-humanly strong. He was raised in a monastery.
 
Yellow Star Yellow Star is an activist and most vocal of the Hungry Ghosts. She's a speedster.
 
Fire Strike Second to Yellow Star in dedication to the cause of the Hungry Ghosts. He's an energy blaster.
 
Gobi Gobi takes her name from the Gobi desert, her homeland. She can manipulate sand.
 
Jade Tiger Originally a vigilante who wears a tiger mask he has now come to a greater calling. Jade Tiger is a master martial artist.
 
Iron Arms Former high ranking member of the Communist Party, and lead engineer on the Three Gorges Dam. However, an accident (actually it was an attempt to kill her by a rival)at the dam cost her arms. She had them replaced by state of the art cybernetic arms. The incident also led her to join the Hungry Ghosts, where she acts as second in command to August General.
 
Yeren A student at the Beijing Normal University discovered an ancient Tibetan scroll and after reading it was transformed into a yeren, or a creature similar to a yeti. He has since learned a way to return to normal, but now uses his powers to help the Hungry Ghosts.

Started a Shadowrun campaign - the GM intends to run it from 2050 forward. The players include most of the usual suspects.
 
The characters - 'Incubus' a elven Metal mage who has a day job as an effects magician on the Seattle music scene. A somewhat debauched individual, and the complete opposite of Felix Bethke (who will soon be earning the sobriquet 'Bubbles' despite his best efforts), his neat-freak Hermetic mage housemate.


Felix: We have rules, remember? So how is it that I found a half-empty can of Ebola Cola in my circles? It does not need that sort of thing - you could have ruined the chalklines!
Incubus:Hey, I didn't ruin it. I made it awesome!

Greenlight: I'm going to call you Bubbles
Felix OoC: I'm going to be stuck with this, aren't I.
Incubus: Just wait until I tell somebody to watch out, or I'll sic Bubbles on you.


Incubus needs the money from shadowrunning to help cover his share of the rent. Felix is just saving up to improve his investment portfolio. Felix used to be a wage mage for Aztechnology, but apparently learned something embarrassing to the company.


Titus: The entire corporation is run by chihuahuas.


But since his grandfather is a mid-level corporate in that company, simply having him killed would be even more embarrassing. Their fixer hooks them up with two runners they've not worked with before - Greenlight, a young man who's been living on the streets since his family got abducted by Renraku Corporation, and Titus, a troll. This, apparently, is the kind of team the client was after.


Incubus: We have an elf, a human, and a troll. And the beginning of a joke.

Greenlight: I've already got a neural jack, sticking other things in my head is just parsley around the burger.


The client is here to assess us before we meet her superior and are offered the job. After she leaves, we go to work - Incubus telepathically assessing the tail she picked up, stunning the lowlife in question with an Orgasm spell, then following the client back to her corporate helicopter while Seattle's genius loci keeps him concealed. With that info, it's short work to ID her, her field of expertise, her superiors, and the likely reason we're being hired - skill chips that company is making for the military.


GM: She works for Global Technology
Titus: It doesn't mean they're international, they just make light globes


Her superior is slightly annoyed but grudgingly impressed that we've already identified him, and his reason for hiring us, before we've even met.


Incubus: We did our research.
Felix: We ARE professionals, sir.


Apparently a trusted employee helped a group of runners steal the experimental military skill chips, and he needs them back before the end of the week. None of that stops Incubus from flirting shamelessly with "Ms. Johnson"


Felix: Can't you control yourself for five minutes?


Greenlight does not want to know what Incubus did to that lowlife trailing the Johnson, that left him twitching spasmodically in the hallway of the club, earlier.


Felix OoC: Some might describe him as seedy. Particularly afterwards.
Greenlight: I don't want to know.
Incubus: I just manipulated his pleasure centers.
Greenlight: What did I just say?
 
Incubus' player : I bet Jrska wishes she could do that
Me: *shrugs* Eh, she prefers the personal touch
Incubus: That reminds of a song. Except I haven't been.
Titus: ?
Incubus: Blowing Bubbles.


Back to Felix and Incubus' converted loft apartment. It's actually a very nice pad - lots of warehouse room below for their respective magical researches, and a hydroponics set-up so they can actually get fresh vegetables.


Felix: We even have fresh tomatoes
Greenlight: What the f*** is that?

Felix: We have rules though. He stays that side of the line on the floor, I stay mine. And the first person to mention The Odd Coven will be shot.
Greenlight: Have you to sold the rights to your lives or something?
Incubus: *glares*
Felix: No.

Ran into an old friend of mine last week on Battle.net. We started reminiscing about a Strategy Game we devised using a cross between Risk and D20 Modern. The game was based on StarCraft and each player had a character in charge of his army. It was more about the strategy and roleplaying than small-skirmishes, but the GM could create small-scale missions.
 
Anyhoo, my character's army was moving in to re-enforce another guy's troops. His army failed his moral check. So I tapped into his comm-frequency and started broadcasting a speech to his routed army.
 
"Friends, Terrans, Homo-sapiens. Show me your rears. Cuz any SOB stupid enough not to turn and fight right now is gonna take a .50 between the eyes (my armor had a squadron of Ghosts (psionic-enhanced assassins and snipers). We aren't going to end this war by dying for our race, but making the other guy die for his! Fire the nukes. My inspirational Speech check is a 22."
 
GM: "Fire the nukes?"
 
Me: "Sure. You said this was a canyon, and the fortress that fell was at the mouth. There is sufficient gap between the routed army and the Zerg onslaught, so send a couple of ghosts up to the top of the cliffs and have them fill it with nuclear hellfire and have my troops charge in after the blast wave settles. I shout "Come-on you apes, you wanna live forever!? Inspirational Speech check is a Natural 20! Score!"
 
GM rolls some dice. "Okay, aside from a few Ultralisks, which your siege tanks and Wraiths can make short work of, the way is clear. Your army absorbs what is left of Ted's, which replaces the losses you experience from the Zerg who burrowed in time to avoid the nuke. You reach the fort and now need to clear it out as it has become infested."
 
Ted: "Is this going to be a straight-up fight or another bug-hunt?"
 
Me: "It's the zerg. What the hell do you think?"
 
Ted: "How do I get out of this chicken-sh** outfit?"
 
I wish I could say that was the only time we quoted Aliens or Starship Troopers, but sadly the who game was that way.
 
BTW, eventually we lost the planet to the Zerg thanks to some crappy dice rolls and getting flanked.

Far-out space projects

Re: The Abnormals.