Why shadowrun, when making money legitimately is so easy, (Also, a campaign idea for 5 players, with pre-built characters) Options

[DreadPirateKitte...]

That's precisely the game I want to run. Also with a fair bit of "Hello. In this suitcase is the shattered remains of my great-grandfather's sword. He has told me that his spirit cannot rest until it is reforged. I am told you can do this?"

Did I mention I think Alyssa is brilliant?

And I'd totally play her, were there an online game of this.

[Fuchs]

I might just nab the whole crew for my pen and paper campaign as some NPCs for a run or two (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) . (With your permission, of course).

[HentaiZonga]

I might just nab the whole crew for my pen and paper campaign as some NPCs for a run or two (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) . (With your permission, of course).

Please do! And please, post session results - I only ask that you allow me to clean up any adventures I particularly like and publish them as a fanfic collection.

[HentaiZonga]

Did I mention I think Alyssa is brilliant?

And I'd totally play her, were there an online game of this.

Awesome! I'll make sure to invite you when I do this.

And I told you we had similar tastes. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Basically, each of these characters is a parody of a certain Shadowrun cliche, created as a demonstration that that cliche can be handled tactfully, thoughtfully and well.

Tim is the Mary Sue.
Alyssa is the Lesbian Stripper Ninja.
Bob is the Mecha Pilot Rigger.
Johnny is Mr. Macho.
Spaz is the Munchkin "Neo" Wannabe.

They're also each a certain fiction trope - the Abrasive Tech Nerd, the Handsome Brains, the Gorgeous Seductress, the Gunslinger, the Bad-Ass Action Hero. But each with realistic insecurities, character flaws, dreams, ambitions and fears.

[DreadPirateKitte...]

Awesome! I'll make sure to invite you when I do this.

Awesome.

And I told you we had similar tastes. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

You did, its true. =)

Alyssa is the Lesbian Stripper Ninja.

But she isnt a lesbian! ...or a ninja?

[HentaiZonga]

And now, for some further background information

Childhood

Tim - Tim had it pretty lucky. He was born to upper-class corp parents at Fuchi in 2048, who actually came out of the Novatech self-destruct reasonably unscathed. He went to a private Jewish elementary school, not because his parents were Jewish, but because it had the highest academic achievement record and the highest statistical admittance rates to top-end colleges. Tim's parents always encouraged him to excel, which he did with ease. While sports and gymnastic activities never appealed to him, Tim was always a 'natural leader', gifted with incredible intelligence and social grace. As a child, Tim has many diverse interests - art, sculpting, cooking, fashion design, entomology (especially butterflies), aerospace engineering, physics, philosophy, religion, comic books, classic literature, professional off-road racing, and 2020's "classic" music. much to the dismay of his parents, he grew up with his best friends Johnny and Bobby, and Johnny's little brother "Spaz" - all the sort of 'low class' metahumans that his parents wanted him to avoid by sending him to a private school. Nevertheless, Tim and Johnny were inseparable, and held a bond of friendship that both families feared bordered on romantic. While neither of them "came out" as homosexual, Johnny and Tim both had several conversations regarding their own confusion on the subject.

It came as no surprise to anyone when, at age 13, Tim expressed magical ability while convincing a group of bullies to leave the class nerd Bobby Schellinger alone. Tim has never regret the incident, but he does regret how he handled it - even though he was too young to know better, he feels that Bobby's sudden realization that Tim would always be there to protect him is wholely responsible for Bobby's transformation from a shy, sensitive 14-year-old into an abrasive loudmouth. He's probably right, but Bobby would definitely have some choice words to say on the subject.

After Tim Awakened, he was immediately snatched up by Novatech and tested, and then offered a full scholarship to any college of his choice. Not wanting to leave his best friends, Tim chose UC Berkeley. His college education was paid fully in advance mere months before Novatech exploded into smoldering stock-market wreckage. His parents worked with Bobby's father, a prominent Bay Area lawyer, to ensure that both Tim and Bobby retained their scholarships despite the questionable legal standing of Novatech's corporate debts, and so he entered college in 2067.

It was two weeks into his first semester that Tim met Alyssa. Alyssa was a teenage runaway with a criminal record, with exactly the sort of fragility and grace that Tim had always been a sucker for. He took her off the street and offered her bunk-space in his dorm room, which she eagerly accepted. Much to his own ethical dismay, he found himself having sex with her within two weeks - an especially regrettable circumstance, given that it was six weeks later that he found out she was only fourteen years old. Still, by then, they were inseperable, and he had already begun weaving the elaborate coping mechanisms to keep himself from realizing the depths of her infidelity and sexual addiction.

Tim lasted a full three semesters, learning everything he could about magical history and magical theory, showing himself to be one of the brightest magical theorists of the 21st century. He discovered his true passion in Enchanting 201, during his third semester - it felt just like gourmet cooking (a skill Tim had always relished), with the added bonus of allowing him to channel his magical energies towards the endeavor. He created his first batch of orichalcum as an extra credit project, presenting it to the class after a month of dedicated refining. His teacher made an off-hand comment about the substance's street price, and the wheels began turning.

Two weeks later, Tim's social skills were in full force, weaving an elaborate scheme to his friends Johnny and Bobby. The three of them would drop out of school and go into business for themselves, making money hand-over-fist by producing and selling the ruddy, glowing metal. Bobby would run the business's hardware and software, Johnny would protect the goods, and Tim's girlfriend Alyssa would manage the sales contacts. Bobby and Johnny both had strong council against this last idea, but Tim had always had a blind spot for Alyssa, so there was no dissuading him.

Tim withdrew the rest of his college trust fund, and immediately poured it into a top-of-the-line alchemy laboratory, with some special modifications designed by Tim and engineered by Bobby. The leftover money was spent on a down-payment for a two story San Fransisco apartment building, where the entire group now lives. With Tim's habit of over-paying on the mortgage, are scheduled to own the place outright in four years.


Bobby - Benjamin Schellinger was a New York Jew, and a dwarf - thus doubly hit with stereotype. He was always a shy, quiet, bright lad, who eagerly threw his passions into electronics design and computer programming. Ben also loved comic books, and had an absolute obsession with 'mecha'. Ben started using his middle name Robert in the 3rd grade, to try to downplay his Jewishness, and eventually had his name changed from Benjamin Robert Schellinger to Robert Benjamin Schellinger - he would have changed it to Robert Benjamin, but his mother convinced him otherwise after months of low-grade nagging. Benjamin moved with his parents from New York to San Fransisco in 2051, when his father got a new job as a top litigation lawyer in Novatech's West Coast division.

Bobby won every local and state science fair competition from 2056 to 2064. Like Tim, Bobby received a full scholarship to UC Berkeley, where he studied robotics and computer science. Unlike Tim, Bobby's academic career was exceptionally lackluster, and he was well on the route to dropping out anyways when Tim came to him with his money-making scheme. Bobby pounced on the idea, and has been pouring his share of the cash into ridiculous robotic inventions ever since.

Bobby has found his true passion in life - the local group 'Survival Research Laboratories' puts on street-fair like displays of "mobile art", where cobbled-together mecha with flamethrowers and automatic weapons fight behind a bulletproof plasteel barrier for the thrill of the crowd. Between SRL and the various local and national Robot Wars competition, Bobby has made quite a name for himself, as a maverick genius with a massive chip on his shoulder.

Alyssa - Alyssandra Von Diesse was her parents' pride and joy - her mother's perfect little dolly. She was a "designer baby", created specifically to match her high-class corporate parents' high-prestige lifestyle, to showcase their wealth and good taste by being the perfect expression of the devoted family life they needed to project to the world. She excelled in ballet, gymnastics, opera, classical choir, track and field, and modern dance, and was even taken on by a local Olympic rhythmic gymnastic trainer at the age of seven. She was well on her way to the Olympics when, at age 11, it was discovered that she was an early-Awakened Adept, permanently disqualifying her from competing. Her parents, rather than being thrilled with their daughter's newfound abilities, were horrified. Her father, already mentally unstable, began sexually abusing her. Her mother all-but-encouraged the practice, turning a blind eye and discounting her daughter's pleas for help.

Everything came to a head a year later, when she seduced one of her father's prominent and influential friends, a local corporate law judge. Because of her magical abilities, she was tried as an adult for assault and magical coercion, and sentenced to 12 months in juvenile hall. When she got out, she discovered that her parents had already sold off all her clothing and re-furbished her room into an entertainment center. She was unceremoniously disowned and kicked out onto the streets, where she survived for 12 months by latching onto one protector after another until Tim came along.

Alyssa is desperately trying to turn around the behaviors she's learned over the past few years, because she feels in her heart that Tim deserves better. Unfortunately, by now these behaviors are so deeply ingrained into her that she's convinced she'll never escape them, and besides, she's having way too much fun - right?

Johnny - Johnny's dad was a Shadowrunner who died when he was 3. Johnny's mom was a devout Jew, who scraped together what was left of her husband's savings to ensure that Johnny and his little brother Will got a decent, Jewish education. Unfortunately, as the only Orks in an upper-class Jewish elementary and high school, they were too busy defending themselves from bullies (both students and teachers) to excel in their studies. Johnny firmly believes that if not for Tim, he'd be dead by now - either from violence or drugs. Johnny has an almost hero-worship of Tim, and would gladly take a bullet to prove to Tim how much he means to him. Now that his mom died, Tim, Bobby and Spazz are the only family he knows, and he is fiercely protective of all of them. He even extends this protection to Alyssa, although he strongly disapproves of the chaos and emotional turmoil that she brings to Tim's life. Truth be told, he's also a bit jealous - Johnny is probably bisexual, and Tim has always been his first and unrequited love.

Johnny grew up loving western stories. He has an avid imagination and a sharp wit, and runs several local RPG circles - both on-line and in person. He collects antique firearms, Western memorabilia, and Western comic books and movies, while splitting his attention between watching Tim's back and keeping his brother "Spaz" out of trouble.

Spaz - Johnny's little brother Wil is an impulsive, immature little kid stuck in the body of a grown Ork. He's like a giant, overgrown, overeager Pit Bull puppy who won't stop chewing on the furniture. He likes fast cars, fast bikes, Japanese swords, trenchcoats, and action movies. He switches between wanting to be Neil, the Ork Barbarian, Karl Combatmage, Bloodrokk the Half-Vampire, and The Great Dragonslayer of Vashhk. He sees his entire life as an action movie, with him as the star. He's also incredibly frustrated that he's apparently the only guy in 200 miles that Alyssa won't sleep with.

[HentaiZonga]

Goals, Hobbies, and Ambitions:

Tim and Alyssa - Tim and Alyssa are both prominently involved in the local BDSM scene. Tim is well-known as a local fashion designer and weaponsmith, and spends most of his time (between check-ups at the alchemy smelter) doing commission work or creating original works to "show off" at the local BDSM clubs or the local Ren Faire. Their design company, called 'Pygmalion Design Studios', is making quite a name for itself - often producing high-end fashion clothing with both magical and high-tech features (the latter added with Bobby's technical help).

Johnny - Johnny's reaching the age in every young Ork's life where they start thinking seriously about settling down and having kids. He's got a good house, a good job, and a good family; now all he needs is a good girl.

Spaz - Spaz's goals are to get an armored rocket-bike capable of breaking the sound barrier, summoning an Ally Spirit into his dikoted katana, becoming an internationally renowned Shadowrunner, and Awakening as an Adept. Or a Magician. Or a Magician-Adept. Or a Magician-Adept who can astrally project. Who's a vampire. And a shaman that can chance totems at will.

Bobby - Bobby wants to build full-scale, human-piloted mecha and set up a trid show where rigger pilots compete in the ring for prizes.

[Fortune]

... before Novatech exploded into smoldering stock-market wreckage ...

... retained their scholarships despite the questionable legal standing of Novatech's corporate debts ...

I'm not following this. Novatech did not melt down, nor did it default on anything as far as I know. The stock issue pumped huge bucks into the Corporation, and it then subsequently merged with Transys Neuronet. This is not the same as Fuchi, which did indeed go down the drain.

[HentaiZonga]

I'm not following this. Novatech did not melt down, nor did it default on anything as far as I know. The stock issue pumped huge bucks into the Corporation, and it then subsequently merged with Transys Neuronet. This is not the same as Fuchi, which did indeed go down the drain.

Sorry, hash collision; I meant Fuchi.

[HentaiZonga]

So, we have one call for Alyssa if this is done online, are there any other characters that interest people here for an OL game?

[Dumori]

Ill happily play Spaz or Bobby after I read up on them some more and I may ask to pass a few small changes to make my chosen one easier to RP. But what id really want to play is a Hacker/Decker (whatever you want to call it) but from the list i think i warm the most towards Spaz.

[CircuitBoyBlue]

He now knows the 'Fashion' spell, which seems to fit him perfectly.

That pun better have been intentional.