What kinds of characters do people playi in Shadowrun Options

[Lordmalachdrim]

Mostly humans built for speed and focusing on pistols (shotgun for when things get loud). Don't like heavy weapons, or armor. Like light weight, fast, and sneaky.

[Mickle5125]

well, at the moment I'm playing Padre... a priest. that's right, ladies and gents, a priest is running in the shadows.

...well, I found it entertaining...


Most of the characters I create are rather F***ed up individuals... I like playing flawed characters more than I like playing characters who are super good at what they do. For example, I had a Troll with MPD, a ninja elf adept with addiction: tentacle porn, and, in the fall, I'm currently thinking about building a necromancer who has addiction: sex, and geas: celibacy. Said necromancer is rather mindpwned already because of his personal tradition (values balance and goes out of his way to achieve it... yadda yadda... kill and let live seemingly randomly...etc etc), so the added fun of the addiction should make things that much more entertaining. yeah...

[Caine Hazen]

When I'm not Gming I'm usually getting to play Missions. Just transfered over my rigger to NYC during GenCon. Lynx Red Moon, a Sioux Wildcat washout (Bad Luck's a bitch people...). I did get wired up quite well by the military before I left for the shadows though, so I can technically hold my own out of my drones and vehicles (despite that SRM03-00 mission.. those were just lucky shots) I have been adding a lot of hacking into the skillset though as I've gone, as I've found you sometimes miss out on hackers at the tables. But I'll send a big shout out to the Museum of Modern Art for those new drones in my collection!

[Bull]

I've played damn near everything. I usually try and make each character different from the last. Among them:

Bull the Ork Decker - Started off as probably the worst decker EVER, because I didn;t have a clue what I was doing. I picked crappy cyebrware because it sounded cool, picked a metatype that didn't really fit the class, and didn't realize I needed cyberdeck, so didn't buy one at Chargen. I just figured my character was a hacker and just needed to access any old computer (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Clueless Newb. Of course, he ended up being THE Bull the Ork Decker, so obviously I got over the newbness (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Mac - Consummate professional to the point of overplanning. 2nd Edition Speed Sammy.

Chaos - Suicidal, somewhat insane combat mage specializing in Fire and Illusion spells.

Johnny Fever - Part of an all Rocker/Scientist Shadowrun team ala Buckaroo Banzai. Lead Singer for the band Pyschadelic Phlegmm, and great-great-gandson of Bob Dylan. He had a Toxin Exhaler that he kept loaded with Dayglo goo to spray on the crowd at his shows. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I had a short lived decker who was addicted to combat drugs, a Troll combat monster, and my current Missions character is an uncouth Ork Sammy named Rush who's addicted to the drug Guts. Plus probably a dozen other characters over the years.

Not to mention a Vampire, a Gargoyle, and a Windling using the PC rules I wrote for those (Which I really need to get back online one of these days (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) )

Bull

[Wesley Street]

well, at the moment I'm playing Padre... a priest. that's right, ladies and gents, a priest is running in the shadows.

...well, I found it entertaining...

Not as unusual as you might think. I have two players who are going the Boondock Saints route with their characters. And they are literally named Boondock and Saint. Oy vey! There's something disturbingly compelling about gun-toting clergy.

[Wounded Ronin]

Bah, the priest shadowrunner thing has been done to death.

I feel like the key thing about being a priest in a RPG is to carry a shotgun and a courier tote filled with slugs.

[Bull]

Hell, one of our Tourney characters a few years ago was a Priest. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) The player on the winning team played him as a Hellfire and Damnation Preacher, and considering he was a big guy with a booming voice, it was quite entertaining.

I've seen them done a number of ways. Best one I've seen was a Hermetic Mage who's summoning rituals were all lengthy prayers, and each elemental type responded like a different type of Angel. Was interesting.

Honestly, after almost 20 years, I'd be willing to bet there are very, very few characters that haven't been done, in some form or fashion.

[Pendaric]

I ref more than I play, however I channel characters I want to explore into my NPC's so they are fleshed out. As such I like to play just about everything.
My defining traite is I like characters that are of some use. Playing the totally lame at everything gets boring and annoying fast. Do it once for the thrill but that should do you.
There also has to be some part of the character psycology or situation that i want to explore. As such my characters are multi-layered with an agenda to hit as many things of interest within their remit as possible.
I buy into the roleplay as art concept, so I really strive to play something that will teach me something in the process.

[Moon-Hawk]

The correct answer to the question posed by this thread is: "Hot elf lesbian stripper ninjas", and I can't believe it took this long for someone to say it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[Jackstand]

Bah, the priest shadowrunner thing has been done to death.

I feel like the key thing about being a priest in a RPG is to carry a shotgun and a courier tote filled with slugs.

Yeah. It's pretty much like this.

[ornot]

Not as unusual as you might think. I have two players who are going the Boondock Saints route with their characters. And they are literally named Boondock and Saint. Oy vey! There's something disturbingly compelling about gun-toting clergy.

I was considering making a militant catholic character called the Nundertaker. (see 3.15)

[Dumori]

They fighting priests makes me think of Hellsing and section 13 of Iscariot As we as the short strip in the mangers CrossFire the both include some prity fun Chathilc militants Yumiko (i think that the right name she has 2) is a nun with split personality hows alternate personality Yumie is a mad katana wielder but Yumiko is normally a sacred and helpless nun. Then there is Heinkel an Iscariot agent with his two heavy pistols one name Luke and IIRC the other named John


Edit: Croteted names

[Stahlseele]

and a Windling using the PC rules I wrote for those (Which I really need to get back online one of these days )

_BAM BAM BAM CLICK BANG BANG BANG CLICK_ *reloading* _BAM BAM BAM CLICK BANG BANG BANG CLICK_

[Jack Kain]

They call him Lightning Jack and the Elf acts as the teams face(an adept). Except for Combat Sense his adept powers are focused on face duties, kinetics, commanding voice, linquistics, voice control. When negotiation fails he falls back on his trusty pistol an Ares Silvergun or his monowhip. He's quite deadly with both.

He has three types of armor he uses depending on the occasion
An Armor Jacket for the streets or when heavy combat is expected
For a fancy occasion or for Johnson negotiation he has the auctioneer business suit
And when stealth is the most important thing a Chameleon Suit.

When negotiating for a job Jack is cut throat he tries to get the best deal for his team by showing a strong face, make the johnson believe the team is in high demand and oh how the money will roll in. He expects the johnson to be straight as possible, if he can't tell them the truth don't tell lie just don't talk about it. If the contents must remain secret he will insure it remains secret and don't with hold key information like.
"If you shake or drop the package it may explode"
That turned out to be really important as we tossed the package to the johnson, and he fumbled and dropped it. We took his car as payment.

Jack loves to flirt with women and does so on a regular basis and not just humans and elves, the "better looking" Orcs are on his list as well. He often flirts with the parties main fixer for jobs Tabby whom he once called Honey Kitten. (Tabby looking like a catgirl as a result of surge). But their good friends so she doesn't let it get in the way of business and he doesn't let the claw marks she gives him get in the way either.

Jack is rather fussy about whatever he eats. None of that soy based crap will do, no matter how good the flavor packets claim to be. This is chiefly because eating soy could cause his throat to swell up and cause death. If you haven't figured it out by now he is mildly allergic to soy and eating something such as a soy burger is not a wise idea.

So far he has yet to use his voice command power as it was only recently got the power but plans on commands such as "Throw your guns to me" This may cause a pistol to smack him in the head but its better then being shot at and more likely and more ethical then "shoot yourself in the head"

[Bull]

_BAM BAM BAM CLICK BANG BANG BANG CLICK_ *reloading* _BAM BAM BAM CLICK BANG BANG BANG CLICK_

<grin> hey, he was great fun. Only played him like twice though.

Oh! And Spiderman! Forgot about him! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) This was before tehre were official "Stick to walls" adept powers.

I always had a thing for working up alternate PC races though, for some reason. Really do need to get those back online and updated for 4e (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Sir_Psycho]

I always run stealthy characters. I've never played a sam or combat twink. I like hacking and technical skills too, all as methods of circumventing detection and violence.

My first character, Raven, was a Covert Ops Spec/Face. He was a generalist. Charismatic, stealthy, acrobatic, good with his fists, and fairly powerful with his ambidextrous use of browning max powers.

My next was probably Shinji. A human ninja I made when I became obsessed with the fun things SR3 adepts could do. He had a ridiculously high stealth skill (11, I think - That's SR3), could jump from rooftop to rooftop, and could easily cut a troll in half with a katana stroke. He was a completely emotionally incapable misfit though, and also had an instilled compulsion for murder.

Then was Blackie Pilger, my first SR4 character. An anarchist cybered photojournalist. He's also a roof-rat, but not nearly as charismatic as Raven. He's got a bunch of torture scars from stories he did in Panama and from corp sites. He runs in LA, and fervently hates P2.0, which is contrasts with DD, who Fuchs posted up the page. Their interactions can be pretty priceless.

My most recent character is Anezka "Beta" Sykora. A Czechoslovakian research bookworm. She's an intimidatingly proficient hacker, as well as a prodigal doctor, armorer, demolition expert, chemist, programmer and anything else logic based. Her father turned Shedim and ate her mother's face off, so she's got a meat-phobia, is a neurotically passionate vegan, and derives her voyeuristic pleasure from simsense and the actions of Vera, our psychopathic face.

[Flatliner]

Thinking back to the other characters that cycled through the group, I remember the basic characters being the best in-game while some of the weird ones were sometimes the most interesting.

dwarf Wolf shaman, combat focused; French-Canadian savateur physical adept; former Russian Army mercenary-like; former Yakuza streetdoc/torturer cyberzombie with no combat skills (unless kendo counts); English vampire ripped off of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer character, with a few spells; elf generalist/face, based on generic tough anime chicks; generic cyber-ninja with tail and of course a dikote katana.

[Sweaty Hippo]

One group I GM for is incredibly fond of Adepts and Street Samurai, and almost exclusively play them. Said group can be found in my GTA SR thread.

My other group has a Technomancer, a Hacker, and a Street Samurai. Fortunately, the character with the Technomancer realized the expensive amount of BP and chose not to generalize, but specialize in the Matrix. The Hacker, however, happens to have no social skills whatsoever, but has a strong sense of honor; he won't complete/do a mission if he believes/finds out that it exploits the "helpless," which has earned him the enmity of many Mr. Johnsons.

As you can tell, Mages don't seem to be very appealing amongst either group.

[Glyph]

I've played a wide variety of characters, but I tend to do characters who are good at both combat and social skills, often with a secondary specialty they are also good at. I guess it's because I like the combat and roleplaying aspects of the game more than the planning bits. I played a lot of sorcerers in SR3, because you could have a decent Charisma, a good spread of skills, and versatility from having different spells.

Dancer, my character in the game with DD and Blackie Pilger, is a good example of my usual type - lethal at combat, some face abilities, and as her name implies, a very good dancer. She also clashes with the others a bit - the character interactions have been fun. Dancer has the sustenance power while DD has dietware, so she'll be setting her plate aside half-finished while DD is ordering the troll-sized super-sundae. And Blackie will be complaining about the shallow, plastic people, while Dancer will be partying with them.

[Fleinhoy]

The two that stick in the mind are
- My 3rd edition Irish Fomori physad. unarmed combat monster with killing hands and stealth. Wasn't stupid or uncharismatic either, so a decent all rounder, apart from the fact that he couldn't shoot a gun at all. He was also completely fresh of the boat from Europe, so he had no contact in Seattle.
Fled Tir Na-Nog when he goblinised, was trained by a physad in Germany and went to Seattle out of general wanderlust. ended up in the shadows more by coincidence than anything else, as with a great many other things in his life.

- Then there's my current character. A Chinese Elf, ex-triad assassin. Face, covert opps and up-close-and-personal killer. Consummate professional, has no ethical problems causing wholesale destruction, but sees it as amateurish unless it's absolutely necessary.
He's also a mild alcoholic, and certain types of spirits really hate his guts. Planning to go back to his home town and take care of the rival syndicate that forced his Triad group out of business and him into the shadows, and when that happens, it will be messy.

[Cadmus]

mmm I tend to play a bunch of things,

In home games I lean more to gun bunnys that are infilitrators mostly gunslinger adepts, ( I play alot of adepts)

right now I'm playing a mage occult style investigator with a tiny bit of cyber and who is more resembling of a 3rd mage in the fact that he throws spells instead of summioning spirits, a real spell slinger ya know?

For missions games I tend to play my uncoth Rigger (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Who is for lack of a better term a militant geek, lots of armed drones, explosives and carrys very large heavy pistols and body armor. Stay in the truck? why when you can say hello to his not so little friends. Granted he also likes fiting things to explode too,

[Wesley Street]

The correct answer to the question posed by this thread is: "Hot elf lesbian stripper ninjas", and I can't believe it took this long for someone to say it.

Only appropriate if she's doing that to pay for college.

[Cadmus]

Which? being the striper or the ninja?

[CanRay]

Both, of course.

College is EXPENSIVE!

[Prime Mover]

Hot elf lesbian stripper ninja whoa. What about the hairy dwarf hermaphrodite pirate?

Actually run SR since 1st hit the shelves and only recently have had the chance to play. My first PC is a dwarf sami who's dabbling in rigging. "I order my drone to cover me and lvl the custom M23 (roll dice) target resists 19P at -6AP, next target please!"