Tabletop Tales: A Different Kind of Shadowrun

So...my friend Jim (one of the players of our "regular" Shadowrun game) decided he wanted to run a side game using the Shadowrun system. However, he wanted to veer away from the typical Shadowrun setting (2072 Earth) and try something a little different...

Welcome to Shadowrun: Ancient Earth!

Jim basically took the Shadowrun system, tweaked the skills, weapons, etc., and put it all into a romanticized ancient Earth setting.

So far, the Ancient Earth group has played two sessions, but I'm REALLY enjoying it. Essentially, we're all members of a hunter/gatherer tribe of primitive Native American-esque people.

Now, going into this game, I had to think about a concept that would FIT, but would also be something different from what the other players were making. What they were making, you may ask? Well...

• Adam created a skilled hunter character that specialized in using the spear. 
• Amy created a shamanistic type character that specialized in herbology
• Wes created an almost purely artisan-type character that could make nearly anything needed (given the materials)
• And Eric created a huge, lumbering, child-minded beast-like individual that preferred using rocks as weapons

So, what is missing from this party? Two things: a talker, and a scientist. Well...I use the term "scientist" loosely but an intelligence based, logically-thinking, cause-and-effect studying individual.

And thus, Aune was born! Aune is the talker and the thinker of the party (though, as I've found out in this last session, that the thinking is all a team effort). Aune is a Charisma heavy creature, having nearly every social skill available. He lies, he negotiates, he soothes, he scares, and in time, he will inspire. In addition to that, I'm going to have Aune grow into a science-like medium, studying new substances and plants to find out hidden properties that can be exploited.

His current scientific endeavors? Fire arrows and smoke pellets. The fire arrows were simple once I worked out a rudimentary design based on the materials I had available. I'm hoping to improve upon it over time, but what I've come up with will do. The smoke pellets, however, are a bit trickier.

My idea is to craft a small clay pot. Maybe something...a bit smaller than a tennis ball. Inside the pot will be placed the first of two substances. A clay barrier will be fashioned and fit into the pot to separate the first substance from the rest of pot. In the second half of the pot will be placed a second substance. Than, the pot will be sealed with a clay cover, creating a breakable sphere-ish device. The trick is that the two substances, whatever they turn out to be, will create a smoke-heavy reaction when combined. When the pot is thrown and breaks, the two substances will combine, react, and create the smoke screen.

Now, all of these ideas are handy no matter what we're facing. Aune's motivation, at the start of the game, was to discover new and usable materials. After it was determined, in-game, that our party would be heading into the unknown southern lands where "demons" supposedly dwell, his motivation changed to proving the "demons" were nothing more than stories.

Tonight's session, however, caused his motivation to shift one final time. Our party came upon a situation that outright PROVES demons DO exist, thus destroying Aune's motivation. So what is his motivation now? Fighting the supernatural....with science!

What better motivation to tie into his abilities than fighting back supernatural evil using his brain and the natural world as weapons against them?

Well...I thought it was cool.