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> The Three Quintensential Robin Hood Runner, I'm counting the entire A-Team as one
hyzmarca
post Oct 18 2008, 05:35 AM
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The A-Team
The Equalizer
Kwai Chang Cane

Thiese three, I do believe, are the Quintessence of Robin Hood type shadowrunners. Why? Allow me to elaborate.

The A-Team were sentenced to military prison for a crime that they didn't commit. They weren't framed, there was no huge conspiracy to get them, it was really just a bureaucratic snafu that made them look like renegades when they were lawfully following lawful orders. Instead of bowing to the broken system, they escape into the Los Angeles Underground (well, one of them faked insanity).
We've got a team of, essentially, mercenaries. They do jobs for money, but they only work for good people who need help, and their fee schedule is very flexible, sometimes being entirely pro-bono. They don't advertise or anything, but clients are somehow able to find them through an elaborate network of shadow contacts, word of mouth rumors, and false identities. They also have a large number of illegal weapons, heavily modified vehicles (usually found, modified on the fly, and quickly dumped), and the like. The team consists of a Face, a Leader/strategist, an aircraft Rigger and a samurai/wheelman/mechanic. They also work fairly closely with reporters for two seasons, which brings us back to Shadowbeat.
On the side, they run various scams and odd jobs to get by and pay for necessities.

Then there is The Equalizer. Very little says Robin Hood Runner like The Equalizer does. He used to work for the CIA before he got tired of it and decided to reconnect with his son. The Equalizer is a SINner, he has a regular life and he operates out in the open, though much of his work is decidedly illegal. He even advertises his pro-bono services in the newspaper. He has a fairly diverse cache of weapons, both legal and illegal, as well as common spy equipment, though no Bond gadgets. Everything he uses it both real and practical, usually real practical. On occasion, his old boss from the CIA will come calling, requiring him for a mission, but this arrangement suits him, as it allows him to do his work would much interference and probably keeps the ATF from taking his Uzis.

The most unusual of this is Kwai Chang Caine. He isn't really a mercenary of any sort. He doesn't do violent work for people, paid or otherwise. But he fits the mold nonetheless. Kwai Chang is wanted for a murder that he actually did commit (though with good reason) and wanders the Earth with assasions and bountyhuntrs on his trail. He does various odd jobs for various people to gt by, though he eschews and avoids violent employment. Everywhere he goes, his race makes him an outcast. He is, however, compelled to right wrongs wherever he goes, and does so in a very mercenary fashion, wracking up an impressive body count however unintentionally.
But, even more germane is Kwai Chang Caine II, Kwai Chang's identical grandson in modern times. This Kwai Changtaught his son wisdom at a Shaolin Temple in California but an evil force destroyed that temple and father and son eac believed that the other had perished. They are reunited a decade later, with the son being a cop and the second Kwai Chang providing him assistance with (actually, mostly dealing with on his own) various criminals goings on in China Town, which sometimes had a mystical element.
While this Kwai Chang worked closely with the authorities, he was very much a mercenary and a renegade, often going around law enforcement to do the right thing and ensure that real justice is done. For that matter, there were many renegades and mercenaries in that precinct. Peter Cane himself was a good 80s/90s cop, with a strong disdain for rules and procedures and a love for saving lives no matter the odds. Captain Blaisdell, Peter's adoptive father and boss, was literally a mercenary, once, while Kermit was essentially a mercenary working as a cop because his old friend asked him to. And on a couple of occasions Peter and Kwai Chang teamed up with John Steed and Napoleon Solo to first kill a bunch of bandits who were threatening a town and then barely survive an encounter with an ancient Chinese secret society.

I being these up mostly because I've bene watching Kung Fu: The Legend Continues non stop for some time and it seemed better than making rules for being a Shambalah Master. But also because the Robin Hood types seem like a dying breed when the number of ways to Robin Hood up a game are astounding, no matter what color your mohawk happens to be.
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WeaverMount
post Oct 18 2008, 05:52 AM
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Honorable mentions go to...
1) Robocop, basically a cyber zombie, made by a mega corp. The plot centers around the law enforcement and a mega corp. RoboCop does acts more out of programing, instinct, and self preservation that pure white hat altruism, but he makes all the same Robin Hood plays. Plus he's a cyberzombie. (did I mention he's a cyberzombie?)

2) Wu Feh Hung. The Wu Fe Hung of Iron monkey uses phy-ad level Fu and ninja style evasion skills to fight corrupt Chinese officials.
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