Amusing misconceptions about Shadowrunners, from popular media Options

[Dancer]

My new character has no criminal background or experience at all. His entire knowledge of how things work comes from shadowrunner trid shows, of which he is a voracius consumer. What are some amusing misconceptions he might have?

(When he was trying to find the group's hideout recently he went looking for spacious 'warehouses' with big skylights for people to crash dramatically through and concealed doors in the lawn to an underground helipad)

[eidolon]

Well, I would think that this varies from GM to GM, since you'll find that people have vastly different takes on both their game world and what a shadowrunner really is.

In a game I ran, one of the characters was a 17 year old ex boy-brigade member from South Africa, who had seen a bunch of "Shadowrunner" movies, and sold what little he had to fly to Seattle and "become a shadowrunner". This basically resulted in him having no subtlety, and doing things like walking into Penumbra (which in my games is a joke of a "shadowrunner" hang out, no real talent hangs out there) and announcing loudly to the bartender that he was "looking for a Fixer, or perhaps a Mr. Johnson".

[Talia Invierno]

:D *cough* :rotfl:

[TheMadDutchman]

After reading this thread I have two words for you: one liners.

Watch a bunch of action flicks. Movies like Commando and The Last Boy Scout or Die Hard.

Things like: "If you touch me again I'll kill you." or "Let off some steam" (when Arnold impails his enemyw/a steam vent in Commando) or Yippi Kai-ya (you know the rest) from every die hard movie.

If I was playing a character who "wanted" to be a Shadowrunner I would constantly be looking for snappy one-lines.

[Synner667]

Hi,

I'd guess he'd be like the character in Last Action Hero when he comes into the realworld - he thinks bullets barely hurt, everyone is beautiful, there's always a parking space when you need one, information gathering is just talking to a single person who knows just the info you need, you never have to reload a gun, guns are ok to carry in public, etc.

Just like someone who grows up watching Hollywood movies and thinks that's how things are.


Of course, it could be really funny for a character to be the naive, but things are just like that FOR HIM - because people just can't believe he's that naive, so they just go along with his worldview because they want to see what happens to him [think TwoFlower from the Discworld books, in Seattle !!].


It's actually quite a lot of fun playing someone that innocent, as it allows you to 'discover' things that 'jaded' players just don't 'see' anymore.


Just my thruppence..

[Marwynn]

Misconceptions?

Perhaps he thinks every single hacker has his own private fort, lined with explosives and dangerous drones.

The Matrix would just be Google to him.

Mirror-shades would be his priority. Barring that, cool looking cyber eyes.

The media in 2070 certainly portrays Trolls and Orcs to be less intelligent than they are, so it might be a good idea for him to know Or'zet or the slang of it and be a poseur of one of the metahumans.

[Dancer]

He doesn't want to be a Shadowrunner, he's being forced to by circumstances (having the neccesary skills and a desperate need for cash).

[tisoz]

[savantt]

He'd probably see himself as the hero (or at the very least, some form of anti-hero) as most ShadowRunner movies that would make you WANT to be a Shadow Runner would probably show them as robin-hood like petty criminals who really have a heart(think Malcom Reynolds from firefly). He'd probably outright refuse to do anything really EVIL, and be very wary of any jobs that are extremely criminal...

On the flip side, he'd be looking at every single oppertunity for the unexpected-but-inevitable betreyal so common in action films... which, in practice, means he would suspect every fixer, Johnson, player character or even 'random guy in bar' to double cross him and his team. Could be quite fun, especcialy when you actually FIND the Johnson who has been playing you from the begging...

Basically, think in our world of every TV show and film who's hero is a criminal or gang of criminals - from the aforementioned Firefly, to The Italian Job, the Ocean films...the list goes on...

Just my take...Sounds like a really fun character...Great idea.

[fistandantilus4....]

[Malicx]

The bigger the explosion, the better your job went. I mean, all action movies have huge explosions, and they are almost always a good thing.

In action movies, it's the bigger the better. Nothing subtle.

[hyzmarca]

[TheMadDutchman]

That's harsh...but somehow...sadly...accurate...man, I feel dirty now.

[Synner667]

[Synner667]

[fistandantilus4....]

I was really proud of the way he played him. As you said, it's rare that a player will play a character true, to the point of doing things agaisnt common sense, but in keeping with the character. He actually lived through the crash, having landed on the hood ( magnetic hands). But the cop, rather than being blown up, intentionally rolled the car, with two runners on his hood. Another runner, named Johnny Hardcore had jumped on with him. Johnny was almost completely borg. He made it through the crash w/ serious wounds, and carried off Trid's liimp form (into the sunset). They both got extra karma (for their next characters).

Most of the characters iddn't make it through Bottled Demon. The whole thing was just a mess. But they did make it, and they had a hell of a time. I let the players who died make new PCs , whom the survivors hired on to help protect them.

[Marwynn]

That sounds awesome. True roleplaying is rare, especially with such a unique tilt to a character.

Also, I could use 50 nuyen, so...

[Kyoto Kid]

[Sterling]

Well, he has to wear a lined coat, carry a katana, a predator (of any type) and dress in the other myriad cliches Runners perpetuate... umm, shock gloves, black combat pants, etc.

He has to drink like a fish, since Runners spend 90% of their time in bars, either drinking for fun or drinking while looking for work.

He has to drive either a Eurocar Westwind or the meanest combat hog in the book.

He has to be either the most ammoral evil bastard that ever lived, who would sell his own dear granny (who raised him from a tot) to organleggers for beer money, or the most noble soul ever forced to lead a life of crime and poverty while he plans to address the great and tragic injustice that sank him so low.

[Wasabi]

Dress like the matrix and act like Jackie Chan. As it fails, roleplay the coming of age...

[sunnyside]

The fellatiating thing (though some groups do more of that than others, I mean working for corps).

One other thing is that it sounds like SR media portray shadowrunners as anti-hero types. I think you could have some harsh awakenings when realizing that all too often they are the scum of the earth. You may have to have other groups make him realize this though. Most PCs are too concerned with getting the next peice of gear to do anything all that scummy unless someone pays them, and most GMs don't want to find out whether or not someone in the team would rape a five year old girl for thirty thousand nuyen.

Also I think you should play him as a "Knight in Shining Leather" or at least he should think that hot damsels in distress should be forthcoming, and he should be able to save them seconds before the building explodes.

[Marwynn]

You know there's also another route to go with this:

The Anti-Runner

He's seen all the trids, read all those matrix sites, talked to people in the know (or who claim to). So in an effort to set himself apart in becoming a runner he does the exact opposite of everything he's seen; dresses normally, doesn't stand out and doesn't over-specialize into any one thing, dislikes major bloodletting and large explosions...

...and ends up getting it right and impressing some pros.

Of course, he'd be a SINner to start off with, but it should be fun to play a newbie inadvertently acting "professionally". Or at least, unexpectedly.

For example, he's got a decent amount of electronics, reliable stuff but certainly not the super-tricked-out rigs some hackers sport. So he goes to a meeting with a Mr. Johnson and since he's read that everyone should always suspect everyone, and not buying that, he decides to trust the Johnson completely.

And Mr. Johnson sells it like it's going out of style and lies in wait as he assumes the young runner is going to do some hacking and figure out his deceptions and he's prepared for it. But there's the rub, he doesn't check and he seems to be unflapped and is still willing to go along with an obviously crazy scheme when they meet the next time.

So the Johnson is now scared drekless. The runner has to be on his own agenda and is an excellent negotiator because he's just so unassuming and disengaging instead of the usual "I'm hardcore" types. He has to be an excellent hacker too (because there was no record of any hacking done and everyone knows you gotta check things out) and is extremely confident of his skills to consider doing the crazy job.

Johnson decides he's in way over his head and gives the Anti-Runner some money to stay out of trouble. The Anti-Runner sees it as confirmation that his naked trust is a good thing.

[Solomon Greene]

Good runners are dark, moody, depressive and hot.

He'll need to get a smoking girlfriend, treat her like crap, then leave her, so he can come back to her later when he's at wits end and needs help. Then they can have a steamy love scene.

Hookers have a heart of gold - make him pay with this one.

He'll need to smoke cigarettes - constantly.

Walking the streets, alone, at night, in a leather trench, with a lit cigarette, is the de rigueur form of transportation.

The appropriate way to get into a hot club when declined by a bouncer is violence.

People automatically recognize "awesomeness" when near it.

[Shinobi Killfist]

depends on the tone of the campaign. I'm not going to get too silly if the rest of the players are trying to run fairly serious shadow runners. Though in the campaign with my name sake(an idea I liberally stole) one of the characters was the shoveler and one was GTA vice city rip off character, so silly worked. On a realistic level even if all your experience is from trids I'd expect people not to go too crazy. Most people at least understand that movies are fake an unrealistic. They might think some aspects of a trid are real but I doubt they expect to see some die hard style action on runs. They probably understand you cant walk anywhere you want with a big gun, they probably understand basic societal expectations and if not they better have a really low etiquette skill.

[savantt]