Total Amnesia, Need your Ideas Options

[Murray]

Hi.

One of my Players want to play a character with total amnesia, so I have to Build bis character.
I have a few ideas, which are not very innovative. So I wanted to ask here on dumpshock ist anyone has some nice ideas for a character concept.
I'm Open for any Input, especially if the ideas are innovative or rather unconventional.

I'm very thankful for every idea (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Best regards
Murray

P.s: we are a Group of non-powergamers.

[almost normal]

Have him slowly turn into an infected.

[Dolanar]

my first suggestion for a group of non-power gamers is to generally not ask Dumpshock for build ideas...

Beyond that, you have a few directions to go:

You can create the character to challenge the players typical playstyle.

You can create the character to compliment the player's playstyle

You can create the character to compliment the party Dynamic & fill the needs of the party.

[Draco18s]

Does he have a role or archetype he'd like to play?
If no, is there a role that needs to be filled within the group?
If yes, build towards it, unless...
Does he always play this archetype?
If yes, what has he never played? Build towards that.

You could also have a lot of fun with something like shifter or drake. If you did go that route, I wouldn't charge him the full BP cost (i.e. doing something like "latent drake") until he remembers/figures it out. Then drop his karma gains in half until the debt is paid off.*

*This is so that instead of screwing the character over at the beginning by charging him for a whole slew of abilities he can't utilize AND not screwing them over all at once when the ability is realized, they instead go into a bit of karmic debt. They end up "slightly" more powerful than the other PCs for a little while, but it's not overly noticable.

[Dakka Fiend]

You could go crazy and start with a blank character sheet, randomly assigning stats the moment they first come up until you've spent 400 BP. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)
Maybe print out 100 D6 rolls beforehand so your player doesn't hear you rolling and figure out what's going on right away.

[Lionhearted]

Ask questions and go from that...
Like:
Why does he have amnesia?
what caused it? was it purposeful or accidental? his doing or someone elses?
What are his relationships?
Who was his friends? foes? can he trust them? do they know of his condition? do they take advantage of it?

Continue to ask questions as they come up and form an idea of who this character was, or thought he was. Maybe he even left clues to himself.
After that assigning abilities are much more natural.

Amnesiacs are a pain as they're completely dependent on how much effort the GM want to put in, but if all parties put their minds into it. It might just turn out great.

[Dreadlord]

Or, you could be REALLY lazy, and pick an archetype from the book the party needs, then give HUGE negative mental and social disads, and spend the rest on silly items and skills! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/silly.gif)
Is the player looking for a roleplaying challenge? Or, is he too lazy to be bothered making a player? Or is he new to roleplaying and feels overwhelmed by SR's character build process?
These are critical questions to answer so everyone has a good time.

[Murray]

Hi. Thanks for the responses.

The player is
a) not that familiar with SR
b) want to try something new (roleplay challenge)

I like to build this chars and I dont wanna be lazy (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) I wanna give the player (and the group) a good experience.

[Draco18s]

Alright then. What has the player played before (archetype, any game or genre)?
And what game system are they most familiar with?

[Iduno]

The 25 BP in negatives for amnesia only leaves you ten more points of negative qualities, so make sure it's a good one like judas or cranial bomb.

Day job, dependent, or in debt might be entertaining for them to find out, though. People don't like being kept waiting for a month or more.

For actually useful advice: a character who is decent at everyday things (perception, ettiquette, etc.) with a few useful hidden abilities/cyberware would make for a character who is enjoyable more than stressful. Having deliveries or automatic comlink reminders should work as clues or just to make the character wonder. "Remember, 8:15 at the usual spot."

[Murray]

Alright then. What has the player played before (archetype, any game or genre)?
And what game system are they most familiar with?

He played more "intelligent" chars (Mages for example). I think he can learn every system really fast, but the last time he played in my D&D4e Group a Warlord and a Warlock.

I do not want to make him a "dumb" character, or a character who is only good at fighting.

One of my recent ideas include a character which is kind of a sherlock holmes type:
A private detective. Maybe he's last mission was to get information about one or more of the other PCs and then he gets the amnesia. Just an idea.

But at the moment i'm not very creative...

@Iduno:
Your advice is good! Thanks!

[Draco18s]

Perfect.
An infiltration specialist / thief would be great for him.
I'd also suggest a face (the charasmatic talkers), although I will readily admit that playing a charasmatic character takes some natural Real Life charisma as well.

So running with the infiltrator idea, the archetype excells at breaking and entering--which is important in any Shadowrun--which definitely comes down to smarts, even if it's not modeled by the system well (but a smart player will find it intellectually challenging!)

Here's a template drake infiltrator. It's got some basics already, just knock off the "drake" part and add the amnesia, and then play around with the remaining points.

[Lionhearted]

Hold up... Are we making Jason Bourne here?

On a serious note as a snoop induced amnesia makes a lot of sense did he find out something he shouldn't had and paid the price or is he just very very deep undercover?

[Murray]

Perfect.
An infiltration specialist / thief would be great for him.
I'd also suggest a face (the charasmatic talkers), although I will readily admit that playing a charasmatic character takes some natural Real Life charisma as well.

So running with the infiltrator idea, the archetype excells at breaking and entering--which is important in any Shadowrun--which definitely comes down to smarts, even if it's not modeled by the system well (but a smart player will find it intellectually challenging!)

Here's a template drake infiltrator. It's got some basics already, just knock off the "drake" part and add the amnesia, and then play around with the remaining points.

Thanks. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I will take a look at the template. Maybe I make him an adept with latent drake. I thought about specializing him in weaponless fighting and light pistols. So he could be a very sneaky infiltrator. What do you think?

[Draco18s]

Thanks. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I will take a look at the template. Maybe I make him an adept with latent drake. I thought about specializing him in weaponless fighting and light pistols. So he could be a very sneaky infiltrator. What do you think?

Given that that template was based off a character I actually played--drake mystic adept infiltrator--sounds about right. ^..~

The goal of that original design was "I am making a drake. What archetype would benefit most from the dracoform?" I.e. how can I make these advantages advantageous, rather than quirks that make the character weaker.

He ended up not wearing armor in human form, at all.

(Note: this post will be helpful when it comes time for him to shift forms)

[almost normal]

Drakes. So terrible. You spend gajillions of BP on useless abilities to make a colorful quirky character, and depending on the GM, you might be killed within a day or two of gameplay from anyone with astral vision and a desire for money.

[FuelDrop]

I actually have a whole bundle of half-complete characters I've built up on herolab. PM me if you want me to throw you a couple.

[Lantzer]

I'd have him be a SINner who knew too much - I like the idea of a PI or corporate spy who got too deep. He was memory-wiped and written off instead of dissapeared, but has something really really dangerous hidden behind a (now-forgotten) deltaware datalock (Mysterious cyberware).

He'd have basic B&E skills, technical skills, social skills, and a slew of contacts who all know him by different names, none of which are his original one.

[oinopion]

So a fun way to do would be to get him involved with another player.

Maybe in an old, cliche way: long lost relative or childhood friend. That would make introducing him easier, also would bind the team together.

Maybe in some harder way: other player was somehow responsible for amnesia (honest to god accident? deliberate action?). That could lead to the other player trying to help or actually stop the amnesiac from recovering. This plays on emotions: guilt, fear, (lack of) trust.

I'll give you a story. Let's say amnesiac is Andrew and other player is Bob.

Andrew and Bob are old friends. For some reason or another they don't keep in touch. Andrew became a shrewd hacker, Bob is a Shadowrunner. Andrew tries to make a datasteal on Aztechnology. Someone alerts Bob about this and he decides to intervene. Unfortunately, he arrives exactly when Andrew's brain is being fried. Andrew looses his memories. From here you can add story layers. Who alerted Bob? Another friend? Maybe spontaneously compiled sprite? Maybe Azzies cut a deal with Bob to actually pull a plug on Andrew and erase his memories? When that's solved there can be another layer. Why did Andrew try this hack in the first place? What data was he trying to get?

Or maybe Bob was not alerted to rescue, but hired to clean up (presumably) dead hacker and he decides to take pitty on him. Now they both have a secret that will get them a powerful enemy should the Bob-the-Lazarus appear on local crime channel?

Best thing of all is that you don't have to do *anything* up front, you can build up story as you go. I love players that take amnesia, because that says "Hey MG, I'm here to have a nice story and not to freak out over stats".

If you go that way talk to the other player, to be sure he wants to cooperate (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[ShadowDragon8685]

Well, once thing I've done with the 25-pt amnesia flaw and amnesia, is state that a massive overdose of Laés can, in addition to its listed effects, sometimes trigger general-onset movie-style amnesia. (The past beyond the Laés dose isn't gone for good, as with the normal Laés stuff, but it's gonna be hard to remember.)

So make the character a shadows investigator who was hired by some party (megacorp, Great Dragon, Draco Foundation,) to investigate something very hot, and after they presented their findings, that group realized they knew too much, and gave them an offer they couldn't refuse: they could take a dose of Laés strong enough to erase the last year of their life, or be force-fed a dose of hot lead strong enough to erase the rest of their life. They went with the forget-me-now juice.

[Draco18s]

Drakes. So terrible. You spend gajillions of BP on useless abilities to make a colorful quirky character, and depending on the GM, you might be killed within a day or two of gameplay from anyone with astral vision and a desire for money.

They are. Which is why I went through the exercise of finding a way to make them viable.

An infiltrator was the best I could come up with. Given the right...other qualities I was able to turn mild inconveniences into serious benefits. SURGE for chameleon skin not only means that the character has more armor when in dracoform, but that because they're naked, they get a stealth bonus too. Oh, and natural weapons of course (Note: Exotic Weapon (Firebreath) is kind of important). Along with the ability to fly. And with Eastern drakes (and only Easterns) they can use guns...at a +2 AGL. And do other things, like operate door knobs, computer consoles, etc.

Wards? Not a problem, dual natured switches off when in (meta)human form (the only race or animal that has this trick--not counting magicians, because that's not actually Dual Natured).

And so on.

It's a very narrow niche, but it works.

[Dolanar]

if you go the Sherlock style route perhaps his memory loss is induced by his Moriarty & will not return until such time as he has bested him. If the player is not used to the system perhaps allow him to use the Latent Awakening to get used to the majority system then once he's used to that allow him to get the Adept powers & let him learn that when he's ready.

[Manunancy]

The 25 BP in negatives for amnesia only leaves you ten more points of negative qualities, so make sure it's a good one like judas or cranial bomb.

In my opinion Judas isn't a good qualiy - its basicaly a built-in trigger that leads to either the character or the party's destruction without any control from the player. Basically, you can get a TPK by GM fiat 'ok, Juda triggers, what do you do' - oh those yahoos have just pissed whoever planted me enough for a Thor shot, time for sending in GPS coordiantes 'Kaboom, game over'.

At least a mole canchange his mind over time, but the Judas can't - the second the quality kicks in, he (she or it) turns into an ennemy, with no warning signs and precious little ways to se it coming.

A cranial bomb at elast can be detected and removed, but as far as I know, th eJuda's eeep enough that you can't find out.

[Draco18s]

A cranial bomb at elast can be detected and removed, but as far as I know, th eJuda's eeep enough that you can't find out.

There are ways of dealing with it that don't result in anyone's death.

Remember Babylon 5?

For a while Garibaldi was a Judas.

[Murray]

I'd have him be a SINner who knew too much - I like the idea of a PI or corporate spy who got too deep. He was memory-wiped and written off instead of dissapeared, but has something really really dangerous hidden behind a (now-forgotten) deltaware datalock (Mysterious cyberware).

He'd have basic B&E skills, technical skills, social skills, and a slew of contacts who all know him by different names, none of which are his original one.

This corporate spy Idea is nice and works well with the infiltrator concept.

Well, once thing I've done with the 25-pt amnesia flaw and amnesia, is state that a massive overdose of Laés can, in addition to its listed effects, sometimes trigger general-onset movie-style amnesia. (The past beyond the Laés dose isn't gone for good, as with the normal Laés stuff, but it's gonna be hard to remember.)

So make the character a shadows investigator who was hired by some party (megacorp, Great Dragon, Draco Foundation,) to investigate something very hot, and after they presented their findings, that group realized they knew too much, and gave them an offer they couldn't refuse: they could take a dose of Laés strong enough to erase the last year of their life, or be force-fed a dose of hot lead strong enough to erase the rest of their life. They went with the forget-me-now juice.

Yeah! This is a nice Idea for the background story (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Thanks.

Best thing of all is that you don't have to do *anything* up front, you can build up story as you go. I love players that take amnesia, because that says "Hey MG, I'm here to have a nice story and not to freak out over stats".

Yeah. That's the point I love amnesia players, too. But I think to get him involved with another player won't work for my group. The whole mystery about the amnesia will be spoiled somehow by the player.


There are many really good ideas idea. Thank you all (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I will build something in the next few days.