Character Background, Is this a little excessive? Options

[Shadowrunner13]

I wrote up a nice character background for a new character (the main difference with many of my mundane characters is background and details), but I've had a couple people tell me that it is a bit excessive for a character background.

If people here on DSF have some free time to read some fan fiction, could you read my piece, give me an honest impression of the work and point out its faults? That would be greatly appreciated.

My corner of FanFiction.Net

The story is called "Path of the Ronin" (A little cliched, I realise...)

If you're one of the few who read it on the Shadowrun Writer's Forum, then no worries. Thanks for taking the time to read my drivel. :)

SR13

[GaiasWrath8]

Dood!!! You Rock!!!!

That was a really great peace of work. If I was your GM I would give you extra starting Karma for that. :)

[Toptomcat]

It's never excessive if it's well-written and amusing, which this is.
Wonderful!

[Lindt]

Not cheesy at all, and 9 out of 10 for correctness and coolness.
Its pretty hard to be excessive anyhow.

[Dashifen]

It's wonderfun :)

[Shadowrunner13]

[Conskill]

To be honest, I'm one of those who'd consider that a little too long.

I love plothooks to toy with my players, but I learned the hard way (over my first campaign) that by indulging in a well written character too much turns it from an ensemble to a main character and some extras. I'd simply never be able to use that many pages of material while keeping the balance between the characters there.

I certainly wouldn't mind the format, however. My favorite characters' backgrounds are usually written monolouges.

[Shockwave_IIc]

A very good read, but as Conskill has said, perhaps a little long.

I wouldn't mind a background like that for one of my Pc's, I just wouldn't want every character you gave me to have that length of back ground.

[GaiasWrath8]

I thought it was great. And I would love for one of ONE of my players to write something like that. If all 5 of them did it...I might kill myself. LOL

[Kagetenshi]

About to read it, but to put it in perspective: the writeup for my first character was a total of 43 pages long, all told.

I doubt this will be "too much" as far as I'm concerned.

~J

[Glyph]

If you enjoyed writing it and your GM enjoyed reading it, it wasn't too long. The only problem with long backgrounds is that in Shadowrun, the character you spent days creating can die in the first ambush during the first gaming session.

[Conskill]

For my comparison, my favorite SR character (a decker named Rat) is six pages of narrative + contact description. That's also my second longest ever.

Second largest SR background (an urban shaman teetering on the edge of going Toxic) is three pages of monolouge + contacts.

Longest ever was for a Mage game that never actually got off the ground. Twelve pages down the drain.

If I'm playing with a GM I know and trust, I tend to go fairly minimalist / only define the broad strokes and then get into detail after a run or two. I don't have a talent for predicting the right mood and tone for a background and personality until I've taken it out for a spin.

[Edward]

If you handed this to me as the first session was about to start I would wince. Far to long unless your going to give me a week to read it.

If you give the GM time to read it (or accept it won’t be considered during the first session) it is great.

Edward

[Eddy_Munster]

Heya SR13 :) Long time no see.

I took a chance and read it, and I must say I like it a lot.

As for length, I personally think its fine as long as I had a chance to read it ahead of time. Otherwise I would let you know I wouldn't have time at the first session :)

All in all I agree that this is the kind of background I wish my players would hand in. My last character had 9 pages typed of background including the 20 questions and a short story on him. So I kind of can agree with the way you did this.


Very good job. If you run him, do some in character stories on your runs. Like a journal. You will one day look back at it and marvel at it.

[Fortune]

I'll add my agreement that it is very well done, and not too long if the GM is given the chance to read it beforehand. :)

[Kagetenshi]

:eek:

You don't sharpen a katana!!!

Also, the Renraku Arcology shuts down the end of December 2058, so you may want to consider making reference to it. It would probably have a similar magnitude of effect on the Red Samurai to the effect of the NYC World Trade Center destruction had on the US police/military.

~J

[Glyph]

Actually, he did make a reference to the Arcology shutdown near the end of the story.

[Kagetenshi]

He did. IIRC it's still shut down when he makes it, too. Either way, the initial shutdown should be having an effect even back in Japan.

~J

[Toptomcat]

I think you CAN sharpen a katana- it just requires a specialized process, and not just using a grindstone.
If my memory is bad on this, someone let me know.

[Kagetenshi]

You can polish and buff it, which will to a certain degree increase the sharpness of a sword after use. You cannot take a katana that has been forged or has become dull and grind an edge onto it when one does not exist without ruining the sword. A lot of the moderately effective sharpening techniques currently cost about as much as a typical (good) katana.

~J

[Shadowrunner13]

Eddy_Munster - it has been a while, hasn't it? That ghost ship run you helped me develop some time ago (that was you, right?) is still one of my groups favourites that I've run...

Kagetenshi - Good to know. I'm not totally up on my sword knowledge... I'll be sure to make that revision in my final draft. I'll also do some extra homework on the Arcology... this kind of thing happens when you write a character background without any books handy.

The one player in my group that would GM Tenmou has read the character background and has no problems with him, so in that regard I guess whether the story is excessive or not, is null and void. I enjoyed writing it, and if I could get past my blasted writer's block, I might write another one... :)

SR13

[Arethusa]

You can sharpen a katana. This is 'sharpen' in its broadest usage, in that Kagetenshi is not entirely incorrect: due to the very unique forging process, a katana cannot be sharpened as one can simply sharpen a knife or a sword forged as your average western style weapon/tool is. But it is not correct to simply say that they just cannot be sharpened. If you're really interested in the process, there are sites you can google or sites dedicated to nihonto with people you can email for information.

[Ol' Scratch]

Keep in mind that when most people say "sharpen" they mean "hone." Honing is just a matter of straightening the existing edge which has simply been bent out of alignment through normal wear and tear, whereas sharpening requires chewing away bits of metal and (hopefully) strengthening the entire new edge that was completely eroded. That's why you "ruin" a folded katana... it's sharpness doesn't come from traditional sharping, but the art of folding the metal repeatedly.

If you want to see a demonstration of why that ruins the blade, grab like ten pieces of paper and fold them in half. Assume the fold is the katana's edge. Now take a pair of scissors and cut the edge, representing you sharpining it... and watch what happens to that edge you used to have.

[GrinderTheTroll]

[Joe Outside]