[X] My Assistant

[Panzergeist]

If you could make your own entire team of runners, instead of just one at a time, what would they be? What would be your ideal mix, both from a role-playing and pragmatic perspective? My ideal team would be as follows:

The Chemical Crew
An eclectic bunch of runners, the only thing they can agree on is their love of chemistry and home-made weapons. Can be found running the shadows and designing new weapons of destruction in their Redmond lair.

Brutus- Appers to be a stereotypical nigh-indestructible troll merc. However, he is also an expert at ettiquete and negotiation, and the team's nominal leader. His tailored pheromones and cologne collection leave him smelling fine even when covered in the blood of his enemies. A connoseur of fine wines and custom-made guns, and a fan of classical, baroque, and jazz music. Has a taste for irony, hence the name.

Picasso- Physical adept, sniper, assasination "enthusiast" and shadowrunner impressionist, Picasso considers killing people to be the ultimate art form. Whether with a rifle, his delayed-effect killing hands, or a poisoned dart, his victims often end up looking like something from Guernica. Has little interest in anything unrelated to death, poison, and weapons. Almost robotic; the only emotions he displays are contempt, and anticipation of a kill.

Mongoose- The woman who invented the term femme fatale, she's the last and most beautiful thing many men see. Whereas Picasso is a psychopath, she is more of a sociopath, though only the two of them seem to understand the difference. Icy and irritable, she can't seem to get along with anyone but Picasso, who shares her love of assasination, poison, and silenced guns. An expert at stealth, electronics, disguise, and cyber-implant combat. Never seems to be happy, though her teammates could swear she enjoys shooting down all the men who hit on her in the bars the team meets their employers at. Got her name by killing a snake shaman with her bare hands after shrugging off 2 manabolts and a poisoned knife.

Tailwind- The craziest rigger you're ever likely to see, and quite possibly the smallest. This little gnome has takes to vehicles like a redneck to beer and pickup trucks, and is equally capable with choppers, cars, hovercraft and drones. His skill at gunnery is exceeded only by his aptitude for inventing ever more destructive munitions to launch from his vehicles.

Octopus- A drek-hot decker and an expert on electronics, demolitions, and narcotics, Octopus can also more than hold his own in a fight. Often brags that he can do 8 things at once. Indeed, in his spare time he can often be found brewing combat drugs, refining C-4, programming his deck, and reading a book at the same time. He is obsessed with implants, and sports the widest array of cyberware and bioware on the team. He is also a compulsive pedagogue. Because of this, he often cracks into corporate archives out of sheer curiosity, and is usually slotting at least 4 knowsofts at any given time. makes extra money on the side as a drug dealer and info broker.

Noir- Hermetic mage and former Lone Star detective-sergeant. Holds a gruge against the Seattle police chief because of a botched hostage incident which led to his resignation. Seems to have an intense, penetrating gaze cemented onto his face. An expert swordsman, mage, detective and forensic chemist. Often acts as the conscience of the group; he still tries to protect and serve when he gets the chance. Has a way of turning everything into a 1950's detective movie.

Flash- Noir's force ally spirit. Has the personality and physical appearance of a German shepherd, like those used by American police for the last century or more. After 6 months of existence, he has learned to think independently, but his fierce loyalty to Noir hasn't diminished one bit.

Ophelia- A free air elemental, Ophelia rounds out the team's magical talent. Was once summoned by a mage to attack the team. She was able to hold her own against Flash in the astral, but her summoner wasn't so lucky against Noir. A free spirit, so to speak, she is driven primarily by curiosity about metahumanity. Can be found scouting the astral, studying sorcery with Noir, or trying to lighten the team's mood with a joke. She is very flirtatious, especcially with Noir, but so far hasn't managed to do more than annoy the crew with her romantic preocupation. Occasionaly flirst with women too, but only made that mistake with Mongoose once. Her lighthearted attitude and preference for non-violent solutions make her the odd woman out in the crew.

[kevyn668]

Your team is a bunch of psychos, dude.

I guess if I ran a lot of wetwork ops they'd be ideal, but other than that....

Why don't you throw some stats up here so I can use them against my PCs if they get squirelly on me. :)

[Crusher Bob]

Gah, too many unstable nuts in your ideal group. One of those guys is going to shoot someone and screw it up for everybody.

[FlakJacket]

Perfect group? What is this mythical thing that you speak of? :D

Seriously? A group of well trained, highly motivated individuals, that whilst are in it as a profession for the money have at least a minimum amount of conscience, loyalty and common sense to be able to draw the line at some things.

[Siege]

Echo the psycho comment.

-Siege

[Tanka]

Word.

[Munchkinslayer]

What is this "crazy equals cool" mentality? I used to GM for a dude that was like that. All his characters had to be leatherfaces -- unstable killing machines. The only way I could keep him in check was to run an powerful NPC with the group. When he got too fruity, he'd get his ass whipped. But he was convinced that his PCs were cool. Now he's got Grave's Disease, also known as Mad Hatter's Disease. He couldn't be happier. Now he has "proof" that he's a nutter. Which is of course proof that he's cool.

[Sunday_Gamer]

That's a perfect shadowrun team for the upcoming Shadowrun, the Stephen King edition.

Picture whatever the exact opposite of those guys is and that'll be my perfect team.

Gimme 4 guys.

A dark hero type two fisted Ares Predator toting ex-lone star cop with a troubled past and tragic tale of loss and revenge gone too far, let's call him... Nova.

Add a penetration decker with disturbing levels of matrix ability and enough real world skill to handle himself in a fight, let's call him, say Gauge.

Throw in an elf poser Dwarven rigger with a taste for fine wines and elven porn who enjoys doing things like racing a car backwards down a hallway with barely 2 inches to spare on either side while being shot at... We'll call him Legs, that's short for Legolas or Legless depending on who you ask, shortest elf in Seattle.

Top this crazy little cake off with a skateboarding little smartass who just happens to be a shaman of monkey and who insists on living on the streets and giving his money away to people who need it while the rest of his team pulls their hair out, we'll call him, say...Kong.

Now granted, none of us live for the art of killing, but somehow, we manage to have a few laughs.


The perfect team is the one you make with your friends.

Kong

[Panzergeist]

Oh, my team aren't heartless killers. They love killing, but they only love doing it to people who deserve it. Don't get me wrong, theywould use gel rounds on typical rent-a-cops, but come some red samurai, and it's party time! Shadowrunners are mercenaries people. They don't have to be psychopaths, but they shouldn't be heroes either. If you want to play good guys, use an alternative campaign setting, like SWAT team, or Vigilantes, or FBI, or Doc Wagon HTR team, or anything but fricking freelance black ops men. Personally, I would love to do a Boondock Saints kind of campaign. Picture this: Insane twin razorboy brothers who think that God wants them to wipe out organized crime. An ex-FBI detective who deserted his job to join them. A badass former hitman and hermetic mage who got tired of only killing criminals he was paid to kill. A goofball decker who got tired of being a mafia errand boy. Together, they take on the mafia, seoulpa, triads, organizatsiya, yakuza, street gangs, insect shamans, toxic spirits, corrupt cops, and anyone else who preys on the people of Seattle. And the ex-agent could act like William Dafoe, which would rock.

[Crusher Bob]

Sally Red Buttons (Ork Sam/Weapons Specialist)
Quote: Gah! Bosnia was better than this.
Former UCAS Drill sergeant. Mother and father were killed in {horrible accident} leaving Sally’s 10+ younger brothers and sisters without a means of support. Unable to feed such a crowd on a sergeant’s pay, Sally has turned to running to feed, clothe, educate, and so her sibling.

Roadkill (Dwarf Adept)
Quote: Medical kit check, gun check, armor check, maybe it’s safe to get out of bed.
Roadkill (got his name from being in a hit and run accident while sitting in his living room) is just unlucky. He used to have a nice normal job but then things just started to go wrong. If a piece of a plane is going to fall off into Seattle, Roadkill is the one it’s going to hit. Because of things like this he plans everything (the last time he slacked off a bunch of devil rats crawled out of his toilet and bit him in sensitive places).

Tao (Elf Mage/Face)
Quote: I am Johnson, you are Tao. Let us reason together.
Tao like screwing with people’s heads. He’s great at getting info out of people, or talking his way past security, just don’t get into any heart to heart conversations with him or you’ll wind up doing something really embarrassing (and thinking it was your idea all along).

Turing (Human Decker/Drone Rigger)
Quote: I can sleep late, the money’s good, and they let me use machine guns.
Former MIT student. a bit queer for technology, but other wise a good guy. Basically he seeks the excitement that he gets out of using ‘all this cool stuff’. He provides the team’s surveillance and decking support.

There, not your regular collection of amnesiac killing machines.

[Panzergeist]

You should have seen my tech wiz character I ran a year ago. He had the compulsive-goofing off flaw. Basicly, he would turn anything into a practical joke. Once, he almost blew a run by replacing another character's SMG ammo with blanks. Another time, he replaced a slaughtering sammy's combat drugs with ecstacy. His excuse? The roid-raging troll needed to lighten up. And I believe I used the hollowed-out maglock passkey no less than 3 times.

[Munchkinslayer]

That guy'd get a terminal case of lead poisoning if I had a PC was on that team. And just how do red samurai "deserve" to be killed?

[LoseAsDirected]

Troll Physical Adept, high ass Mystic Armor, Improved Initiative, and a Dikoted Claymore (Weapon Foci would be wiz). Exception Attribute (Body)

Elf Street Samurai, Wired Reflexes 3, Dermal Sheath 3, Titanium Bone Lacing, Smartlink II with Range Finder and extra Induction Pad. 8 pt Ambidexterity edge and dual SMGs. Exceptional Attribute (Quickness)

Albino Gnome Mage with Exception Attribute (Willpower), 'nuf said. Maybe a hold-out pistol.

Elven Face/Weapon Specialist with mostly Bioware, and only a few pieces of cyber.. Aptitude (Negoitation), Good Reputation 2, Friendly Face, Cultured Tailored Pheromones. Uses mostly pistols.

Human Otaku with Cerebral Booster, Encephalon 2, Math SPU 3.. Uses pistols and has good electronics and computer skills.

Ork Vehicle Rigger/Mercenary. Dermal Sheath, Titanium Bone Lacing, VCR, Smartlink.. Shotguns. Uses Rotocraft. Exceptional Attribute (Intelligence)

Dwarven Drone Rigger/Gadgeteer/Demolitions Expert. Good gunnery skill, tons of vehicle skills (rotocraft, car, vtol).. I'd like 'em to have multiple drones that can combine to make one bad ass drone.

Sure, it's munchkiny.. But it would be an effective group.. It would be an ideal group.. You said nothing about being good for roleplaying..

[Connor]

Here's my rundown:

Murphy
Human Mercenary, ex-special forces. The team leader and the one who keeps everything moving in a professional manner. He keeps the hijinks down to a minimum and makes sure everything gets done as smoothly as possible.

Jester
Elven Coyote Shaman. A talented spell caster with a penchant for the dramatic. Even so, he knows when to set it aside and be professional. His arsenal of spells are wide and varied and he's highly skilled in using effectively.

Grumn
Troll Street Sam. The muscle of the group. Although he may seem to be the stereotypical dumb troll behind it all he's rather shrewed and aware of the situtation. However he does like to play it a bit fast and loose, but it never seems to outweigh his usefulness.

Chade
Human Phys Ad from the NAN. An all around sort of guy, good at infiltration and close quarters combat.

Damien
Human Mage. Focusing on non-combat magics. A soft-hearted guy who would have probably entered the medical field if the shadows hadn't swallowed him up first. He'd probably turn into a Street Doc after his time in the field is up.

Aerilaya
Elven Combat Decker. A very capable decker, able to do just about anything needed on a job. She can also handle herself if things go sour.

Eric
Dwarf Rigger/Decker. Overwatch, vehicles, drones, security systems. All these things he can handle. He's also picked up a bit of a feel for the Matrix if he's needed in that regard.


Of course, I wouldn't normally see all of them on a job together all of the time, but more of a group that mostly works together in some configuration or another to fit the job at hand.

[Glyph]

The perfect shadowrun team is something you will rarely get unless either the GM sets the roles people can play, or the players literally design their characters as a collaborative process. Most of the time, you will have a hodgepodge of characters, and a team that is super-strong in some areas while weak in others. Heck, you are lucky if you don't have an ex-Humanis (but still sympathetic towards them) human, an elf-hating ork ganger, and an elf from the Tir who thinks elves are the ultimate superior beings, along with an albino gnome fenrir sorcerer and a lesbian stripper night one with a balance tail and cyberfangs.


This thread starting up is funny, though, because, just for fun, I had started working up a team, using the basic book only, composed of all orks. Their background is that they are a mix of ex-corporate and ambitious street types who all encountered racism in some form or another, got sick of beating their heads against a wall, and decided to go freelance - several of them were acquaintances, who got together, saw they could work well together, and recruited a few more members. They are a very tough, thoroughly professional group. I am still working their stats, and I don't have more than a bare-bones background at the moment. Currently, they are:

Ellen Richter - decker/gun adept
Nick Lane - adept/break-in and close combat specialist
Rick Hunter - ex-bodyguard (the tank of the group)
Dan Scarsdale - ex-company man (the speed sammie of the group)
Mitch Darston - rigger, with a getaway car, an ATV, and some combat/surveillance drones
John Coburn - combat sorcerer/Gator totem
Quinn Arlington - hermetic mage/face

[Shadow]

[Playing Games]

Take playing Games,crazy SOD.He didn't fear anything,at all.He didn't care about killing.If he killed someone,or didn't kill them,it didn't mater.He wouldn't pull his pounches for any reason other than the goal of the job.If the JOB was to kill a buss load of nuns, and feed them to blood spirits,that is what happened.He never went out of his way to kill, but killing wasn't wrong to him.People died,he killed people, no point in crying over it.

[MrSandman666]

[cykotek]

Uriel ("AT&T...my rifle. It means never having to say you're sorry!") - Human Saeder-Krupp Special Operations Colonel placed beyond sanction during a field mission-gone-wrong. Entered the Seattle shadows to survive until he can find his way back to family. Cold, heartless, and utterly ruthless when needed, he still has a heart buried deep inside. Long list of implants optimized for raw reaction (on par with MBW-4) and sniping ability. Original organizer of group, manufactures cocaine to provide living expenses and finance team emergencies. Speed freak on four wheels.

Gabriel ("Who do we hate in Abu-Dabi?") - Mercenary commander assigned under Uriel in the field. Became partner in crime in Seattle, though has no family to speak of to return to. Ork heavy weapons specialist and motorcycle freak. Implants include reflex enhancement (though not to extent of other teammates), durability and strength enhancements, and rigging capabilities. Skilled in hand to hand combat. Almost as hard as Uriel, but kept more of his "human side" alive.

Lucifer ("Yeah, I can kick down a fire door") - aka, Alice. Human Renraku executive, running the shadows for the thrill. Complete and total sociopath. Specializing in hand to hand combat (katana) and raw speed, speed, speed. Impant list consists of primarily high-grade move-by-wire system 4. Has an on-again, off-again relationship with Uriel.

This was the core of a team of a rather long-run group. We had others come and go (an adept, a couple of magicians, a rigger, a cyber-fetishist), but if it wasn't magical or matrix based, these three could do it. And Uriel usually had enough solvent cash to buy top-line magical support and matrix support when needed. We added a magician to the real core group eventually, but never got him into the angel theme.

[MrSandman666]

Nice theme for the names.

Since when does Katana count as hand-to-hand? Did I miss something?

[The Jopp]

Ideal Shadowrun Team= NPC's

[cykotek]

[Xirces]

Next team member needs to be Islington.

With a nod to Gaiman.

[kevyn668]

[Siege]

Ok, let me explain why I qualify this crew as a bunch of fruit loops. Underlines added for emphasis.

Some of the character descriptions are quite elegant, but still...

Brutus: