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> Simsense Serial Killer, Character Concept
Edge2054
post Mar 5 2008, 10:45 PM
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The concept revolves around a serial killer who records his murders using a simrig and emails the recordings to the local media. So far I have the why pretty much worked out as well as what his stereotypical victim is (middle aged human women). The how is with a knife, possibly a weapon focus, the character will be an elf adept with a bit of cyberware (the simrig, a commlink, and a data jack). The how to not get caught part is what I need help with, specifically how traceable the sim recordings would be and ways around it.

I have two ideas so far on the last part. The first idea is disposable commlinks. Buy a crappy commlink, upload the sim recording to the commlink, and send it from there. Or use the junk commlink for the original recording and just send it (this would probably be the safest, assuming that my characters normal commlink might leave some sort of trace evidence on files it records). The other option is to pick up enough hacking skills to just use my normal commlink and kill the data trail.

Aside from that I'll post an update with more character background and stats once I get him stated to let you guys pick apart.
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coolgrafix
post Mar 5 2008, 11:03 PM
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Unless I'm mistaken, accessing the matrix at all (from a "disposable" commlink or otherwise) still requires a valid, traceable Matrix account... unless you're a hacker.
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coolgrafix
post Mar 5 2008, 11:09 PM
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Also, why bother making him an adept? It doesn't take mystical powers to kill a mundane citizen, even now. I'm more interested in the way you treat his quality write-ups. =)
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Edge2054
post Mar 5 2008, 11:40 PM
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Yeah, I guess it would require a matrix account. How disposable are matrix accounts though? It's assumed every sinless shadow runner has a matrix account connected to his or her commlink yet it's not assumed that every shadow runner has a fake sin.

As far as the adept idea I was going to run with Kinesics and a couple points of improved reflexes, then geas the last imp. reflexes point to ritual (his serial killing). Really though that's all fluff and less important to the character idea... so if I end up going down more of a hacker route it'll get nixed so the hacking skills/gear can be affordable.

For Qualities

Home Ground (The neighborhood he grew up in and now hunts in)

Addiction Moderate (Hot Simsense)

And that's it so far aside from the geas mentioned earlier.

Fourth Edition is pretty lacking as far as flaws go, dark secret, compulsion, stuff like that I would have picked up in 3rd Ed aren't around anymore. Any more ideas on qualities would be appreciated.



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KCKitsune
post Mar 6 2008, 12:03 AM
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Why not record the file to a datachip and then drop it off at some common location. Then let the police know that the chip is there and if they want to see the murder... watch the chip.
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mfb
post Mar 6 2008, 12:10 AM
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you could also build disposable commlinks from parts, or even hack a normal device to act as a commlink.
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Edge2054
post Mar 6 2008, 12:14 AM
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QUOTE (KCKitsune @ Mar 6 2008, 01:03 AM) *
Why not record the file to a datachip and then drop it off at some common location. Then let the police know that the chip is there and if they want to see the murder... watch the chip.


This could work. Would the commlink used to record the chip leave any data traces on the chip itself though? I would imagine a hacker would be able to modify a commlink so it didn't leave such evidence behind easy enough though if that was the case.

Then pay a bum to drop the chip off were you wanted it. I'd probably go with media over police with this character, having his exploits given to the public would be half the thrill.

As far as the built commlink or hacked commlink idea we still run into the problem of a traceable matrix account and the question posed earlier of how difficult it is to set up a matrix account to begin with. I'd guess it's not difficult for the reasons I outlined above 1) every runner is assumed to have a matrix account and 2) not every runner is assumed to have a fake sin.
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mfb
post Mar 6 2008, 12:38 AM
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according to SR4 pg 214, it's of negligible difficulty to get an anonymous commcode--they don't even list prices, though they do say that you can pay extra for extra-anonymous, extra-secure 'black' commcodes.
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kigmatzomat
post Mar 6 2008, 03:58 AM
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QUOTE (Edge2054 @ Mar 5 2008, 07:14 PM) *
This could work. Would the commlink used to record the chip leave any data traces on the chip itself though? I would imagine a hacker would be able to modify a commlink so it didn't leave such evidence behind easy enough though if that was the case.


Probably, but so what? If Psycho bought a Meta Link with cash, possibly from a fixer or other not-a-store, and had 13yro geekling Timmy rip out the radio it's off-net and basically untraceable until someone puts their hands on it. It would be like using a cellphone's camera after you've trashed the "phone" part of the cellphone.

Heck, it's probably a Logic+Hardware(4) test so he could do it himself with only a minimal amount of skill and time.

To pull a page from GitS:SAC and up the icky-creepy, give Mr. Psycho have 2 comms, one with a hot sim module and a trode net. Mr. Psycho hooks hot comm to the victim and feeds it his Sim feed via cable so that she's watching herself be murdered from his perspective. Worse, she's getting his emotional track so she likes it.
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KCKitsune
post Mar 6 2008, 04:42 AM
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QUOTE (kigmatzomat @ Mar 5 2008, 10:58 PM) *
To pull a page from GitS:SAC and up the icky-creepy, give Mr. Psycho have 2 comms, one with a hot sim module and a trode net. Mr. Psycho hooks hot comm to the victim and feeds it his Sim feed via cable so that she's watching herself be murdered from his perspective. Worse, she's getting his emotional track so she likes it.


There would be a special place in Hell for Mr. Psycho. Satan would LOVE this guy! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/eek.gif)
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Edge2054
post Mar 6 2008, 04:58 AM
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Lol... I actually thought about that Kig and may still do it. He'd keep the sim feed from the victim though for his personal stash and send the feed from his perspective off to the media. Can't have sims that show his face out in the public after all.

Either that or cut out the victims eyes first or just blindfold them during the killing but then he'd lose out somewhat on the experience (killing someone that's blindfolded doesn't seem as twisted as seeing the look in their eyes while you kill them).

Edit - Then again he can always disguise himself or wear a hood or some such. Having a simsense recording of a murder from the victims perspective put into the media comes off as even creepier then getting it from the killers perspective.
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mike_the_fish
post Mar 6 2008, 08:15 AM
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If you haven't done so already, you really... REALLY should watch the movie Strange Days. It's a little dated (since it deals with the turn of the millenium), but the villain actually is a simsense serial killer just like you are proposing. Except that the killer in Strange Days not only records his murders, but he links up up with his victim with Sim trodes, so that as they are dying, they must experience the arousal and excitement that the killer gets from murdering them. It's actually extremely effed up and twisted. Perhaps this could be accomplished in SR? I don't know the exact mechanics, but it doesn't sound too far off base for SR's level of technology.

Oh and also, Ralf Fiennes plays the ultimate SR Face character ever seen in a movie. Great stuff.
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sungun
post Mar 6 2008, 01:02 PM
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why give the chips away when they'd fetch a high price on the btl market?

the police would be after you and your distributor. a small army of sick chiphead fans would hunger for your next installment. the media would be buzzing with it. and other btl distributors would be trying to recruit you or shut you down. there'd be a copycat, and you'd murder that copycat, releasing the sim recordings from both perspectives as a double feature.

imagine pulling the trode trick from strange days mentioned by mike with a chiphead fan that's "been" you over and over as you've killed people. you'd have eager victims.
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KCKitsune
post Mar 6 2008, 01:21 PM
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QUOTE (sungun @ Mar 6 2008, 08:02 AM) *
why give the chips away when they'd fetch a high price on the btl market?

the police would be after you and your distributor. a small army of sick chiphead fans would hunger for your next installment. the media would be buzzing with it. and other btl distributors would be trying to recruit you or shut you down. there'd be a copycat, and you'd murder that copycat, releasing the sim recordings from both perspectives as a double feature.

imagine pulling the trode trick from strange days mentioned by mike with a chiphead fan that's "been" you over and over as you've killed people. you'd have eager victims.


Because when you start selling the BTL chips, you're going to get caught. If there is a money exchange, there's a paper trail for the cops to follow. Nope, the best thing to do is just get the chip out there and let someone else take the risk of selling it. Mr. Psycho is only in this for the kill.
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Edge2054
post Mar 6 2008, 11:08 PM
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I think I may partially scrap this idea, maybe bring him in as an npc if our GM ever wants a night off.

Coming up with an interesting concept for someone that's both a serial killer and a shadowrunner has been somewhat of a chore.

For a bit of background on our group I'm currently playing the face archetype out of the book (I joined late and didn't have time to do a detailed character if I wanted to start playing that night). So I wanted to come up with another face type character so we'd still have that base covered.

The best concept for the serial killer I've come up with so far though is for a gun bunny. (I completely scraped the elf adept idea).

Character just finished up with a four year desert wars stint, the simsense rig was installed so the corporation could market his experiences. This guy's a pretty typical low charisma psychopath... but he's also just a kid (22 years old or so) and was molded into a psycho by his military experiences. He's using the simsense recordings from his victims to process what he is and piping his own sim to his victims in hopes that they can understand him in their last moments. Probably the most playable. He's psychotic but I as his player can somewhat forgive him for it.

Other less playable concepts.

The corporate spy.
This fits better with the 'face' concept. Character made heavy use of skillwires and persona chips to infiltrate other corporations. The excessive time he's spent persona chipped under deep cover has left him with little personal identity. He actually keeps his victims kidnapped for a time before killing them, recording their experiences and turning it into a persona chip he'll slot later as a means of 'finding his own identity'. This concept has a number of holes. For one why did he leave his parent corp to run the shadows? Why does he run the shadows still? Why does he kill his victims? Is it so they don't rat him out? So there's only one of 'him'? Who was he? Does he have a family?

The undercover psycho cop.
Another 'face' character. Undercover cop that's infiltrating the criminal element in Denver through Shadowrunning (seems corny). His dad was also a cop and also sexually abused the character. Character kills men that remind him of his father (rather they're actually molesters or not) and pipes the sim to his victims so they can 'feel his pain'. Aside from the cheesiness of being an undercover cop/shadow runner this character has some potential. He could have brothers and cousins in the area, cop contacts, a very loyal (read going to jail if he doesn't do what he's told) fixer, and secrets to keep on both sides of the fence.

The second character probably wouldn't mail his simsense to the media but I can see the other two doing it as a confessional of sorts.

The elf adept would have been your more typical psycho, easy concept to work out and more fitting in some ways but somewhat flat.
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Simon May
post Mar 7 2008, 12:02 AM
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QUOTE (KCKitsune @ Mar 6 2008, 09:21 AM) *
Because when you start selling the BTL chips, you're going to get caught. If there is a money exchange, there's a paper trail for the cops to follow. Nope, the best thing to do is just get the chip out there and let someone else take the risk of selling it. Mr. Psycho is only in this for the kill.

Who says the killer would be selling them? If you used the dead drop idea with a BTL dealer instead of the cops, it gives the cops something to find before they start following the trail themselves.
QUOTE (Edge2054 @ Mar 6 2008, 07:08 PM) *
Coming up with an interesting concept for someone that's both a serial killer and a shadowrunner has been somewhat of a chore.

Why not go for a person born to privilege whose trail was always covered by rich parents/connections. The parents installed the simrig to be able to market the rich life to poor people, but stumbled on the dirty deeds by accident. Once the parents die, he realizes he's going to be in deep shit if he doesn't find a good cover, so he disappears into the shadows. He still kills when the urge hits him (use addiction), but due to his initial social status, he's learned how to cover his tracks and hide behind a facade of quality.
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Edge2054
post Mar 7 2008, 12:32 AM
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I like this idea Simon thanks (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I may even have the parents still be alive. Perhaps they confronted him and that's when he disappeared.
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Chrome Tiger
post Mar 7 2008, 04:19 AM
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QUOTE (mike_the_fish @ Mar 6 2008, 03:15 AM) *
If you haven't done so already, you really... REALLY should watch the movie Strange Days. It's a little dated (since it deals with the turn of the millenium), but the villain actually is a simsense serial killer just like you are proposing. Except that the killer in Strange Days not only records his murders, but he links up up with his victim with Sim trodes, so that as they are dying, they must experience the arousal and excitement that the killer gets from murdering them. It's actually extremely effed up and twisted. Perhaps this could be accomplished in SR? I don't know the exact mechanics, but it doesn't sound too far off base for SR's level of technology.

Oh and also, Ralf Fiennes plays the ultimate SR Face character ever seen in a movie. Great stuff.


Man, I loooooove that movie. A permanent part of my collection. Just such a messed up and cool movie. Sure, the 'trode recording caught my initial interest but after I started watching, it just got cooler. And also the 'BTL dealer' in the trashed out van was a cool character, reminiscent of many fixers I have run in my campaigns over the years. Dealing in other people's memories.
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mike_the_fish
post Mar 7 2008, 08:12 AM
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Copy that! Strange Days is one of those movies that anyone into Shadowrun should really check out.
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