Amnesiac Characters, Writing backgrounds for your players Options

[raggedhalo]

OK, so a player in my SR4 game (currently early 2070; I'm planning to run them through some of the Missions modules and also the Emergence campaign, as well as stuff that develops off their characters' motivations and backgrounds) has written up a character with a few linked Qualities and things: firstly, he can't remember anything before the Crash 2.0 (not a Quality, just a background thing). Secondly, he has Latent Awakening, Sensitive System, and Scorched. His build is basically a wannabe Jason Bourne, heavy on Unarmed Combat, Stealth and Firearms, low on the friendlier social skills. The first thing he remembers, post-Crash, is waking up in a bacta-tank style thing in a Genetique (AZT subsidiary) lab.

Now, obviously, I don't have to let him Awaken at all, but I figure that he's bought Latent Awakening so I may as well go with it, but I'm thinking about expanding its scope a little. I've got two ideas, each of which has two kinda sub-options. Which do you guys think would make the best story, and/or the most sense within the SR world?

Number One (which owes a lot to The Manchurian Candidate):
Character was a member of an Ares team in Desert Wars 2 (the Gobi Desert franchise that started in 2064) as a covert-ops specialist. His team were abducted from the combat zone by New Revolution operatives and shipped to the lab (actually run by Ares but set up to look like an Azzie place) where those without datajacks had them fitted, and they were then plugged into BTL-level sim to make them believe that the team came under heavy fire, and only the character's beyond-the-call-of-duty bravery saved them. The plan was that the character would later stand for public office, eventually getting the VP ticket for the UCAS Presidential elections with the Technocrats. A fellow team member would then (under the influence of their brainwashing) assassinate the new President shortly after they got elected, making a New Revolution operative President of the UCAS.
The kicker: of course, the team were all plugged into a Matrix-linked system during the Crash, frying their brains. So the character escapes with no memory, and incomplete behaviour programming -- which is just as well, as the New Revolution takes a total kicking, too.
The Awakening: Either as a Mystic Adept (a combo of stealth and close combat powers, plus illusion, detection and mental manipulation spells; probably the Chaos tradition or perhaps Qabbalah for the Possession angle) or, more controversially, as a Technomancer. Thing is, we already have a TM in the group so I don't know if that'd cause too much trouble.
Plot Points: Well, the obvious things to do here are any remaining NR operatives trying to make contact and activate the programming, or surviving members of the character's former Desert Wars unit encountering him by chance.

Number Two (which owes a lot to a recent thread about Drakes):
Character was an Aztechnology company man-in-training. During his lengthy induction process, it was identified that he had the potential to become a Drake, and he was thus whisked away into BTL-level sim-based brainwashing to ensure total loyalty to AZT.
The kicker: In much the same way as above, the Crash fries his little brains and sends him in the world with no idea who or what he is.
The Awakening: Well, as a Drake, mainly. Plus also maybe an adept or mystic adept (the group already has a face-type adept and a wujen so I don't really want another full magician, just for variety's sake).
Plot Points: Aztechnology wanting their pet drake back; Ghostwalker and other dragons wanting a new one.

So, yeah; I'm pretty torn between the two ideas, so I'm throwing it out to you guys. Which do you think would make a better story?

[Mercer]

The beauty of it is you don't have to pick right away, but can lay clues for both. What's an amnesiac's quest for the truth without a few false starts and red herrings?

[Fortune]

[raggedhalo]

I know they shifted the Drake goalposts a couple times, but I thought that Drakes were often magic-users of one stripe or another, but not automatically any one type.

As for not picking, you're quite right; I could even set it up so that both plotlines were occurring at the same time in the same facility. Hmm...

[FrankTrollman]

I miss the quality where the game master designs your character for you. A player of mine asked for that one once, and ended up as a cyberzombie and had to figure it out in-game - no Player Character magicians around to tell him what was going on. Good times.

As best he could figure out, his name was Gavin Fontaine or possibly John Miller. But definitely good and disturbing RP along the way.

-Frank

[Scope_47]

Hey, isn't that guy referenced in the fluff part of Augmentation's Cyberzombie chapter?

[ElFenrir]

Ive always wanted to do an amnesiac character, but i just don't want it to seem too cheesy or contrived or anything. It's a really cool flaw if worked right.

I planned on a character(SR3, when the flaw had levels), that i designed the character from 3-4 years beofre and up; and also his childhood up to about 10. the GM worked out all of his story from 10 to about 24 years. It never came to frutition. I'd try it again in SR4, i don't need any flaw points, it would still be a cool idea regardless. The combo GM/Player Amnesiac character is cool...the player gets enough bones thrown at them that they can make what they want; the GM has more than enough bones to create all kinds of plot points and everything surrounding the character.

I like the idea you and your player are coming up with, i'd like to see how it pans out.

[FrankTrollman]

[Zhan Shi]

More inspiration for an amnesiac pc: the movie "Angelheart". Synopsis: a detective discovers that the man he's been hired to find is, in fact, himself. He made a deal with the Devil, then tried to duck out of it by using a magic ritual/murder to switch souls with someone else. But as they say, the Devil always gets his due. Besides, it's also a damn good flick, very creepy and scary. If you happened to run in to Satan on the street, Robert DeNiro would be it. I should have included this one in "Movies for Shadworun".

[Mercer]

[Simon May]

Think about the film Memento.

[ Spoiler ]

Throughout the entire movie you think he's on the trail of the killer only to realize at the end that he completely set up this guy as the killer despite the fact that he knew he was innocent.

Just because your players come to a conclusion doesn't mean it's the right one. You could easily have them get to a point where they think they finally figured everything out only to suddenly find out that something just doesn't fit properly.