NANers, Has anyone ever actually played one? Options

[spica2501]

I've personally never encountered anyone who has ever played a Native American character.

I personally think that the Native American Nations were Shadowrun's worst idea. You've got a bunch of countries where a very small minority rules over a much larger population that has no say in government due to their ethnic background. I don't care how much magical mojo you have on your side, your country is still in store for major recurrent uprisings. Even a 6th level initiate can't stop 10,000 guys armed with pistols and knives.

[Method]

NANers? Only once, but it was a very interesting adventure.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/silly.gif)

[edit]: oh, and there was an extensive conversation about this topic in this thread last week.

[The Monk]

I've played in a group where we were all from one of the NAN. It was fun. Basically I played a cybered up Sioux who hated everyone who wasn't native American and Crow.

As far as the minority rule over an ethnic majority, seems this has been happening throughout history. Not out of place in a dystopian setting.

[Maelstrome]

one of my players plays one every time.

[spica2501]

As far as the minority rule over an ethnic majority, seems this has been happening throughout history. Not out of place in a dystopian setting.

And every time it ends in a blood bath.

[CanadianWolverin...]

*sigh*

Yes, I like to play characters that are from where I currently live, which means I like to play a NAN character. But lets make something very clear here, not all NAN are alike, especially in disposition towards those who are not of a stereotype any more (and especially less) than how accepted meta-humanity is of each other.

There is more I would say but I feel like I have been over it ad naseum in other threads. Say what you will but I was at least a good part attracted to Shadowrun because of the changes in the world, especially the NAN.

Yeah, that is about all I can put down without blowing my stack at perceived wrongs... yeah...

[The Monk]

And every time it ends in a blood bath.

Well then its definitely not out of place. (This is Shadowrun after all).

[spica2501]

Well then its definitely not out of place. (This is Shadowrun after all).

In my opinion, the aforementioned blood bath should have happened some time ago, like in the 2030s.

[Tiny Deev]

I play a black troll shaman who is from Montana. In Seattle they don't like me because I'm from another country, in the NAN they don't like me because I'm not Native American. Quite fun the play.

[Saint Sithney]

Simple explanation?
The Great Ghost Dance convinced the world that Mother Nature herself sided with the NAN, and therefore to fight the NAN is to fight the Earth.

To put it another way, potential to cause Supervolcanic eruption = can end all life as we know it = don't fuck with the NAN.

Complex explanation?
Read the NAN Fading thread. It is really long and in depth.

[Tiny Deev]

I like the whole "we're afraid of the NAN" feel I get. Never read the stuff about the Great Ghost Dance.

[AngelisStorm]

Those mofos can cause volcanoes to explode! Sure, not all that useful in tactical engagements, but effectively they had all the major population centers in Washington hostage (I'm not sure if Oregon was also smooth, and built in the direct path of lahar routes).

I didn't even think of the super volcano/end of world scenario.

[Medicineman]

I have (at Least) two NAN Chars 1 female Ork Ki-Ad (Serious Gun Bunny), 1 Troll Wrestler
also 1 Innuit Troll Bountyhunter and one travelling Hoboe/ Go Ganger(but they're NPC for new Players at Conventions)
So Yes ,I got some (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

HeyaHeyaHeya
Medicineman

[Kalvan]

At my table, the character Jenny Jump is a "Pinkskin" originally from the Pueblo Corporate Council (well, technically, the area she was from was in the Ute Nation in Northern Arizona at the time she left). Basically, she grew up in a Northern Arizona hippie commune (if it could be called such by the 2050s) before Emerging (rather than Awakening like most of her relatives) and leaving for greener pastures, first for Los Angeles and then Seattle. (The player at my table started out with essentially the back story of Courtney Love, but with a slightly more serious outlook, a different appearance, a terrible singing voice, and a different addiction than opiates.)

[Moonhawk]

My current Missions runner is a Sioux weapons guy/face.
Comes from a family of runners.

Being the youngest of 7 kids, he's seen a wide array of attitudes - from his sister's near-xenophobia to having his brother turn his back on his heritage & become a rock-n-roll sellout.
He ended up somewhere in between - acknowledging his heritage while embracing what other cultures have to offer.
Sometimes that doesn't work out too well, but its all part of the learning experience.

[otakusensei]

I've always run the NAN more like a cultural thing than a blood thing. There's racial bias, it's easier to get along if you can prove ancestry, but the key part of why the NAN is as strong as it is is the culture shift it caused. Here they were in concentration camps, put there by the US government. They used their connection to the Earth and the old ways of their culture and were able to reclaim the land that was taken from them long ago. Then the leaders of that movement said that anyone who wished to stay on those lands could, but they would have to live by their way. The same ways that just broke one of the worlds most powerful nations for crimes against it's own people. Sign me up.

On that note I usually have at least one fake ID registered in a NAN country, PPC being a favorite. Salish is good too for border crossing fun, just use separate crossings and make sure your alter ego is on the side of the fence they are supposed to be on.

I once had a player who had close ties to the Athabascan council. He thought it would be cool to be the son of a chief, I thought it would be cool to have the party go up north for some Sixth world political campaigning. At night, with knives.

[etherial]

Sure. I played a NAN Fox Shaman. Ethnicity isn't really all that important to me, but they play it up in SR, so I play it up in SR.

[Stahlseele]

My Main-Troll is from the NAN.
Born there. Goblinized into a Troll And his parents got scared.
Got sent to Relatives in Seattle's Bad-Air. That's true.
Let me tell you how he became the Prince of the Turn-Court Belle-Vue!
*runs*

[LivingOxymoron]

I've personally never encountered anyone who has ever played a Native American character.

I personally think that the Native American Nations were Shadowrun's worst idea. You've got a bunch of countries where a very small minority rules over a much larger population that has no say in government due to their ethnic background. I don't care how much magical mojo you have on your side, your country is still in store for major recurrent uprisings. Even a 6th level initiate can't stop 10,000 guys armed with pistols and knives.

Not necessarily true.

The Salish-Sidhe Council has accepted several "Pinkskin" tribes, and the Pueblo Corporate Council allows a person to "buy" citizenship at market value, regardless of their ethnic background. The Ute Nation granted soverign status to the Mormons and gave them Salt Lake City as their "reservation".

Also, remember that Anglos were "kicked out". By the 2050's, the NAN states ARE Majority governed nations.

['Sconnie]

Not necessarily true.

The Salish-Sidhe Council has accepted several "Pinkskin" tribes, and the Pueblo Corporate Council allows a person to "buy" citizenship at market value, regardless of their ethnic background. The Ute Nation granted soverign status to the Mormons and gave them Salt Lake City as their "reservation".

Also, remember that Anglos were "kicked out". By the 2050's, the NAN states ARE Majority governed nations.

I toyed with the idea of playing a once-devout Mormon who was kicked out of the SLC Reserve for being Awakened

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

I Did indeed play a Native American Shadowrunner in both 1st and 2nd Edition... I was even considering doing so in 4th, unfortunately, our current campaign is in Asia... Maybe if we ever come back to the North American Continent, I will get to do so again...

Keep the Faith

[Karoline]

I think what most people forget when they go "NAN shouldn't exist." is that they have the magical equivalent of an entire arsenal of nukes in the form of the great ghost dance. It's a simple rule of modern engagement: You don't attack countries that can end the world (Or at least kill a couple billion people) when they want.

[LivingOxymoron]

I toyed with the idea of playing a once-devout Mormon who was kicked out of the SLC Reserve for being Awakened

You know, my take on SLC is that the Mormon's are necessarily anti-Awakened, its just that the Mana Ebb is so freakin' high that no one wants to be Awakened in SLC.

[LurkerOutThere]

RE: The NAN

Answer: Its stupid hippy bulldrek that did nothing for the setting for many many years but isolate Seattle and it's environs. To work on a conceptual standpoint at the level it was represented every single ghost dancer hadto be a super magic badass and everyone else needed to be eating paint chips. 1 percent of the population subverting others through ethnic cleansing, cultural override and super weapons is nazis with feathers but somehow justified because they were oppressed.


Now that I've got that bit out of my system I have a heavily cybered Lakota (Sioux) that I'm enjoying his perceptions colored by his pride in his heritage and his lack of ability with magic

[The Monk]

RE: The NAN

Answer: Its stupid hippy bulldrek that did nothing for the setting for many many years but isolate Seattle and it's environs. To work on a conceptual standpoint at the level it was represented every single ghost dancer hadto be a super magic badass and everyone else needed to be eating paint chips. 1 percent of the population subverting others through ethnic cleansing, cultural override and super weapons is nazis with feathers but somehow justified because they were oppressed.

Maybe they had a few million beast nature and ancestor spirits on their side, haunting the pinkskins, appearing in every congressman's general's and the president's bedroom at night telling them to back off or they were going to eat them and their families.

I think its great to have different themes that you can play with within the setting. To me the rise of the NAN was another vehicle to illustrate the rise of an immense and ancient power: magic.

I remember a lot of my friends who played Cyberpunk that could not accept Shadowrun. To me the story of Shadowrun is the awakening of ancient wisdom during the age of technological singularity. I loved it, still do. How do you illustrate the mixture of ancient and future in North America? The ancient cultures of the Americas are the American Indians.