** Ace in the Hole Specific Game Information **

Ace in the Hole is a low-powered Shadowrun campaign setting. The player characters are not full-fledged Shadowrunners yet. They are wannabes and newbies who are just breaking out onto the shadow scene. But, they do seem to have potential. Moreover, these PCs are those who have a reputation for restraint, for knowing when to use diplomacy and when to use force. These are not the types who go off half cocked or who kill for sport. Or at least that's what their street reps say. If they are more violent or impulsive, they have somehow managed to conceal it from the fixers and Johnsons they have dealt with.

All of the characters live and operate out of Tukwila, a small lower- class neighborhood in the southern part of Downtown, Seattle. While they may not all know each other at the outset, they know many of the same people and places, and thus should feel a sense of connection to one another. To aid in this sense of connectivity, all of the player characters will receive an additional two contacts for free.

The first of these free contacts is Bill Sikes. Sikes more or less runs most of the seedy operations in the Tukwila area. He is primarily a loan shark, but he also runs the local protection racket. Sikes also charges the local street kids, joy girls, and boy toys a registration fee to do any business in his domain. Sikes himself is a swarthy Caucasian human who more or less epitomizes the image of white trash. He has beady dark eyes and dirty blond hair which he generally wears in a short ponytail. Sikes is short of stature, and of patience, often resorting to violent means of resolution. When such measures are called for, Sikes usually sends 14 Week Freddy, his preferred leg breaker, out to handle matters for him.

The second bonus contact is Falstaff. Falstaff is a low end fixer who operates in Tukwila. He is basically reliable, if not truly "trustworthy". He stays bought and offers fair goods at only slightly outrageous prices and fences hot good without pointing any fingers. Falstaff is also extremely paranoid. He rarely meets with anyone face to face, preferring to conduct business over the phone (with the vid off) or through intermediaries. Therefore, few people, and the PCs are no exception, actually know what he looks like.

** "Ace in the Hole" Character Creation Rules. **

Use the basic 2nd edition rules (and, yes, I *DO* mean 2nd edition. I am not changing editions midstream.) with the 'more metahumans' option. I do, however, still use the 1st edition rules for languages. If you don't have access the 1st edition language rules, they are explained below.

To aid in characterization, and to partially compensate for the strict limitations on gear, characters in the Ace in the Hole campaign are also entitled to 4 points for a hobby skill. These points may be concentrated if you wish. This must be a real hobby (chess, painting, trideo trivia, etc.)--no combat skills. If in doubt, ask the GM.

Character's starting gear will be very limited due to the low-powered nature of the setting. For the Ace in the Hole campaign, no starting character may begin with Resources higher than C. In addition, you may not choose any gear with an Availability higher than 6 or a Street Index higher than 2. Within the above guidelines, you may chose gear from any of the source books with the following restrictions.

1) No security or military grade gear without prior approval of the GM. Prior approval will require a good reason for you to have the gear based on your history and current situation. It will also require the appropriate contacts.

2) Characters may have *EITHER* bioware or cyberware at the start of the game, but *NOT* both.

3) No alpha, beta, or higher grade 'ware at the start of the game.

4) I STRICTLY enforce the rule which says no beginning character may start with gear rated higher than rating level 6.

5) Mages may buy any magic items they can afford and bond. A caveat-- glowing like a Christmas tree in Astral Space is bound to attract unwanted attention. I *WILL* roll to see that any bonding attempt are successful.

6) Mages may *NOT* initiate as starting characters. You have not progressed far enough along to even be considering initiation.

7) I do require all players to submit a background for their characters. This background must include whether the character is a SINner or one of the great unwashed hordes of SINless. Fake SINs may be purchased for beginning characters. Use the credstick chart on page 103 of The Neo Anarchist's Guide to Real Life for costs. If your character is not a native to the Tukwila area, please explain how you have come to be a part of the Tukwila neighborhood. Your PC must have lived and worked in the Seattle shadows for at least one year at the start of the adventure.

8) As far as character growth, characters may only improve their attributes with karma to a maximum of 2 higher than their starting attribute. This does not, however, prevent them from using cyberware, bioware, or magic from improving their attributes. Skill growth is limited only by karma cost.

9) When you submit your character, please list the Priorities you chose near the top of the sheet. In other words, tell me Priority A is Magic, Priority B is Attributes (24 points), Priority C is Skills (24 points), etc. I want to know *how* you arrived at the numbers you used. It makes it *much* easier to tell if you did it correctly.

** Resource Material Notes**

1) 'THE SHADOWRUN COMPANION' -- Most of this material is off limits. The point based character creation system is off limits. I am permitting the additional races from the SR Companion. However, if you chose one of these unusual races, you must take Race at A instead of at C as the More Metahuman rule typically allows. I am permitting 'Edges & Flaws'. In fact, I would highly encourage you to take them. I have found that they generally lead to better role-playing-- the flaws, especially. If you use them, your edges and flaws must be balanced. No more than 10 points may be taken in Edges and Flaws. Do not take any Edges or Flaws dealing with contacts; I prefer to handle such things by role-play. All Edges and Flaws must be approved by the GM for character balance. Any allergies taken by metahuman characters are considered part of their 10 point limit on Edges and Flaws. Also, make sure that your Edges and Flaws are consistent with the image I have defined in the genre rules for this game. "Bloodlust" would be inappropriate, for example.

2) 'SHADOWLAND' -- An unofficial Shadowrun resource and any material must be pre-approved. Please don't submit a character using any SHADOWLAND material without asking about it first.

3) All other official FASA resources may be used. Noting legal restrictions above.

** Language Rules **

Here are the language rules in a nutshell: All player characters speak their native language at a rating of their Intelligence +2. So, a character with a 4 Intelligence will speak his native language at 6. Since the game starts in Seattle in the UCAS, the most common native language is English, but that does not mean your character is a native English speaker. One of the most interesting characters I have played had only a very limited (rating 2) knowledge of the English language as a starting character.

All PCs get a number of points equal to their Intelligence to spend on foreign languages. So, a PC with an Intelligence of 4 may spend 4 points on foreign language skills. If the language chosen is from the same language group as the native language, then spending 1 point will acquire the language at a rating equal to the PCs intelligence.

For instance, a PC with an Intelligence of 4 whose native language was English could spend 1 of his 4 language points on German. He would then speak German at 4 and still have 3 points left to spend. If the language chosen is outside of the language group, then 1 point spent = 1 point in the chosen language. For instance, the same PC from the above paragraph could spend his 3 remaining points on Japanese and thus speak it at a rating 3.

Certain languages are defined as "special" meaning they have no language family and thus you must always spend full point value for them. These languages include City Speak and Sperethiel (Elvish). No character may chose a special language as his native language.

The language groups are listed in the skill section of the 2nd edition handbook, or you can use the language families from most linguistics textbooks. Just as a point of reference, since the average Intelligence is 3 and since all characters start with an Native Language skill of Int +2, that means that the average person speaks his native language with a skill of 5, and that is the level at which I define fluency in a foreign language. You may, of course, spend additional points at character creation or later with karma to improve any language skill if you so desire. If you have any further questions please feel free to ask.