What's your Story?, PC backgrounds Options

[Crimson Jack]

:rotfl:

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

[U_Fester]

[Sepherim]

I usually go for the point in the centre: a background about a page long, which details why he has gotten to the actual place, and start playing from there. He gets quircks and details in game, which in turn are introduced in the background after master aproves it (well, I'm the master, so there usually is no problem with that). As for players, giving them 5 Karma Points for a story usually worked.

As for Sepherim's story (short version, since it might be a bit long and I don't want to translate it now since I don't have time), here it goes:
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Sepherim was born in a little town in the sothern border of what was to be Tir Tairnguire in the Year of the Crash. He had a nice life, and caring parents. All blew into pieces the Night of Rage, when a bunch of Alamos 20K guys raided the town from every direction. Everyone was gathered in front of the City Hall or was killed on the way. Wallace Blade (yup, I know, not a great name) was taken there by his father's hand, but lost them in the crowd. He got near a lamp post crying, and started to look for them. The Alamos guys entered the place and opened fire... everyone died but the poor boy who hid as he could. The men left the place and, when he recovered, he ran crying to the station. He had always liked computers (being so close in importance to his birth), but had never really tried anything until he took that "turtle deck" and hacked himself a ticked to San Fran.

He met Nigur in that trip, another elf boy who had a terrible life at his back and knew how to survive, and both boys soon became friends. They lived as a squatter for a couple years, begging and stealing to get enough to eat, but Nigur dissapeared one night and it was impossible to find him.

Alone, Wallace continued on until he tried to steal from who he shouldn't have; he was another elf, and a shadowrunner. William Harth was a lonely mercenary, and he felt pity for Wallace, or maybe he saw something in the boy that reminded him of his past. Whatever the reason, Harth took Wallace as his boy, and started to teach him about his shady world. He learnt what he needed to know about weapons, but they really didn't catch his eye.

Until the day that Harth called a friend of his, Dominant, to visit him at home. Dominant was the decker in his team. They both were talking about something when Wallace, only thirteen years old, took his deck and started to use it as he best could. They soon saw him and took the deck away from him, but Dominant was impressed by his ability to use the deck without previous knowledge.

So Dominant took Sepherim as his apprentice, and during years Wallace learnt the secrets of decking. And he was very good at it. They gave him the nickname Sepherim, which in Sperethiel meant "The Dagger" (I didn't know then what it really means), because he was quick and deadly as one, and knew how to hide very well in the Matrix. By the end of 2054, both runners were impressed by Sepherim, and so they paid a visit to the doc to obtain the only piece of cyberware that the decker uses: a datajack.

A hot interface was a new thing completely, and Sepherim was even more fascinated by the Matrix now than it was when he started. But this years of relative happiness were to blow soon after.

In 2055 Sepherim had achieved a profesional level in decking, though he never did it without Dominant overwatching him. But one night he was cooking when he received a call at home and didn't hear it; he saw the message soon after, and it shook him completely. "Harth's team had been caught during a run. Something had gone wrong, someone had betrayed them. Harth was calling, almost dead, closed inside a room and knowing he wouldn't be able to leave it alive, and Dominant had his brains fried in a van near them. It all was over. And they would go after them. Sepherim had to take a user-credistick that Harth kept in a secret place for emergencies, and a phone he had left behind. With both objects, he was to leave the house inmediately and move to Seattle, where he'd find work as a decker for Nailer, a fixer who was an old friend of Harth."

Sepherim didn't have time to think twice about it, since a couple black cars reached the building's entrance by then. He took the objects and ran to the roofs. Noone knew he lived there, but still he ran as far and fast as he could. He escaped, but by a very narrow margin.

He took a plane to Seattle, and got in touch with Nailer. Sepherim had entered the world of shadowrunning.
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There are a couple important errors in the story, and now I know them, but when I wrote it originally we only had the 2º ed basic book, and so there wasn't much background to be used.

There's another Sepherim story in the topic "OOC Second Twist" IIRC. It ain't the same decker at all, but I kept the name because I already had the nick in Dumpshock, and it was easier to play with a character who has the same name as the user than trying to remember always which is the name of the character of certain player.

And, for those that know Spanish, the full story of Sepherim (from here to when he commited suicide) is hung on my webpage, both as a novel and as a short story.

[kevyn668]

You guys could use

[ Spoiler ]

Spoiler Tags :)

[Glyph]

Since we're posting backgrounds now, I'll share my original background for Rat, my 40-build point character who ironically was one of my most successful ones, and one who really changed from what he started out as:

[ Spoiler ]

Bull's 50+ Questions -

1. What is your character's Sex?

Male.

2. What is your character's physical size?

Short, very thin - underfed looking.

3. What is the color of the character's hair, eyes, and skin?

Brown hair in greasy strands, hazel eyes, slightly tanned (and dirty) skin.

4. What is the character's general appearance (i.e., How does he dress, etc.)?

Rat dresses in well-worn street clothing, looking slightly more like a thug or ganger than a squatter - torn denim, old combat boots and an urban camo T-shirt, and a few "punk" accessories. He has a tattoo of a purple rat on the back of his left shoulder. He tries to look vicious, but it only comes off as sullen.

5. Where was the character born (City, State, Hospital Name)?

Rat was born in the Redmond Barrens somewhere.

6. What is the character's date of birth?

January 16th, 2047.

7. What was the character's family life like?

Rat was born and bred into crime and poverty, and as such, it all seems perfectly normal and natural to him. You pay off the cops, the Yaks, or whichever other big group is leaning on you. You use certified cred, a fake ID, or connections when you need something. You pay careful attention to gang turf and other people's street rep and need to save face - the possibility of sudden violence erupting hangs over every encounter. And that's just how it is.

8. Has the character begun his own family?

Rat has no desire to start a family.

9. Where or how was the character educated?

Rat learned most of his lessons on the streets, although his mom (actually, the kindly ork squatter woman who took in the abandoned dwarf baby) home-schooled him a bit. He can read (sorta) and do simple math, but his grasp of such things as history or literature is appalling.

10. Has the character ever done anything else for a living?

Rat has been a small-time criminal since he has been a kid. The only change has been his slow progress from squatter to near-ganger.

11. What are the character's political and religious beliefs?

Rat is apathetic about politics, although he will join in with metahuman rights demonstrations, or at least cheer them from his barstool. His religious beliefs waver between agnosticism and a muddled deism.

12. Describe the characters Moral Code. Include how mercenary he is, whether or not he'll kill innocents, etc.

Rat is bitterly amoral. He is usually loyal to his friends, but he has no trouble committing most crimes. No moral problems, anyways. He is a survivor, and puts running away to survive another day over bravery.

13. What are the character's goals? Does he have any?

Rat wants to be a successful criminal and retire to luxury, or at least comfort. Right now, though, a low lifestyle would be an unimaginable step up for him.

14. Why does the character run the shadows? (Why does he run the shadows still, rather than getting a "real" job?)

What else would he do? He couldn't get legitimate work even if he wanted to.

15. What kind of personality does your character have? This should not necessarily be obviously stated in the background, as it is more important for actually playing the character, but it may color or add mood to the history.

Rat is a petty, spiteful person. He would probably not be as nasty if more people took him seriously.

16. What special qualities does the character possess? This does not refer to skills, but rather to other things, such as how he gets along with people, whether he plans ahead, etc.

Rat is determined to make it. Only his instinct for self-preservation keeps his ruthlessness at bay.

17. Are there certain things the character can't or won't do? Why?

Rat is deathly afraid of BTLs ever since a friend of his died horribly due to a defective Kong Chip. He used to have a pierced nose, ears, and tongue, but after a peeved mage cast Hot Potato on him (pain, pain, pain), he got them removed and doesn't have any piercings any more.

18. What things, people, or ideas does the character hate?

He hates the bullies who pick on him. Of course, he has no problems being a bully himself on the rare occasions where he has the upper hand, but who needs moral consistency?

19. What things, people, or ideas does the character love?

Rat loves good beer, friendly women, and junk food. His vices are extremely prosaic ones (and even these simple ones are rarely indulged at the moment). ^_^

20. What is the character's name? Give both full birth name, as well as nicknames, street names, etc.

His adoptive mom gave him the name Rudy, but everyone calls him Rat now.

21. Determine what your character used to do, before becoming a shadowrunner (very important).

Rat was a hustling street kid, then a ganger wannabe and street criminal, where he is stuck now.

22. Decide why your character left his or her old job, if he had one (also important).

Rat wants to keep moving up the criminal hierarchy.

23. Come up with a reason for why the character became a shadowrunner. (This very often will tie in with #22. This is not the same as #14, but rather why he started running the shadows originally. What led him to it?)

Rat isn't there yet. He might reach the lower-most rungs soon (the amateur 'runners who have a high mortality rate).

24. How did your character come to know his or her contacts? Contacts are an important part of Shadowrun, decide how and why you know them.

>Knuckle Jack, Bartender (Level 1): A massively built troll who runs a sports bar, The Arena, catering mostly to trolls and orks - Jack isn't prejudiced, it's just that seeing the big crowd of orks and trolls often frightens other races out of the bar. The ones who stay, though, find that they are not unwelcome. Jack likes to talk about sports, intermixing it with the local hot rumors and gossip. Rat likes to hang out at Jack's bar. Despite all the big guys here, they seem to leave him alone. It's a good-natured crowd.

>Martin, Fence (Level 1): A short, chain-smoking little man who runs a pawn shop where you can always buy and sell hot items. He is a survivor first and foremost, so don't expect him to shield you if nasty people are looking for you. He is also a tight-fisted businessman. Some people call him Martin, or even Martie, but for Rat, it's still "Mr. James", often followed by "sir".

25. Does the character have a SIN? Does the character actually use it? Or is the character one of the SINless masses? This may be affected by the characters previous employment.

Rat has never had a SIN.

26. Is the character a full-time shadowrunner? Or does the character lead a Batman-like double existence?

Rat is a small-time criminal, barely above a squatter.

27. Which person(s) or group(s) do you love the most?

Rat loves thrash bands, although he can hardly tell the good ones from the bad ones, and he FEARS the mosh pit (where he usually gets battered around).

28. Which person(s) or group(s) do you hate the most?

Rat resents anybody who is better off than him, especially if they didn't even do anything to earn it, but were just born with it.

29. Which person(s) or group(s) do you respect the most?

Rat respects the criminals who have "made it" or are considered to be the very best at their profession.

30. Which person(s) or group(s) do you fear the most?

Rat doesn't even like normal bugs, due to a frightening experience seeing roaches crawling all over a room as a kid. So to him, insect spirits are REALLY bad news.

31. What is your favorite color?

Black.

32. What is your favorite food and/or drink?

He likes junk food, and a trip to the local Stuffer Shack is a happy treat for him. He likes beer, although the cheap soy stuff is all he can usually afford.

33. What place would you most like to visit?

He would love to go to any kind of hot nightclub or fancy restaurant and get the VIP treatment.

34. Which person(s) or group(s) are you most loyal to?

Sadly, himself, although he would do just about anything for one of the rare women who doesn't turn him down.

35. What pastime (that you participate in regularly) gives you the most enjoyment? (Warning: Answering Sex for this question can and will result in penalties to your character!)

Rat likes sitting at the Arena, where he can nosh on pretzels and peanuts, watch urban brawl on the big-screen trid, and nurse a beer for an hour.

36. What pastime (that you participate in regularly) gives you the least enjoyment?

Rat hates when he has to run or hide from people, but he would rather be uncomfortable or humiliated than dead or beaten up badly.

37. What annoys you the most?

When he has to deal with a public dataterm, a vending machine, or any other infernal computerized device. He could swear the damn things are out to get him, messing up anything he tries to do.

38. What (if any) is your favorite form of art?

Rat does not appreciate art, just low-brow entertainment. However, he does consider porn to be a fine art form.

39. What is your greatest goal?

To retire to "luxury" (a concept he has a limited idea of at the moment). More short term - to get an actual cruddy apartment to stay in, with a lock on the door, water when it is being rationed, and the works.

40. What do you think is your characters best quality?

His will to survive.

41. What do you think is your characters worst quality?

His bitterness and envy.

42. What is the most important thing you have ever done?

He took part in a city-wide march for metahuman rights. He barely even had an idea what the march was about, though - he just got caught up in it.

43. Which religion (if any) do you follow?

None. He considered becoming a Rastafarian, until he learned that you still had to BUY the weed - they didn't GIVE it to you. "So what's the point, then?" he said petulantly.

44. What is your most treasured possession (and why)?

He loves Mr. Gruff, his squeaky rat toy keychain.

45. What are your three most common dreams?

> He and a popular sim star, who has now become twins, frolicking in a swimming pool that is, for some reason, filled with beer. "Mmmm... beer" he will mutter in his sleep.

> He has a sudden attack of the munchies, goes to Stuffer Shack, and there's no one there, so he grabs a bag and starts stealing a bunch of stuff.

> He's at the Arena bar, and he's naked. All of the big orks and trolls surround him with disturbing smiles on their faces. He screams and wakes up.

46. What is the Character's current relationship with his family?

Never even knew his father. His adoptive ork mom is gone now, but he remembers her very fondly.

47. If the characters family is still alive, what do they do, and where do they live?

His only real remaining family are his two "brothers", one human and one ork, who were adopted by his "mom" along with him. They have gone their separate ways, though, and he doesn't even know if they are still alive. If he ever met them, though, he would still help them if they were in trouble, and he would still consider them his "brothers".

48. Where did the character learn his Skills?

Informal training and the school of hard knocks, picking much of his knowledge skills simply from constant exposure.

49. Does the character have a good luck charm? What is it, and why?

He has a "lucky coin", although he mainly kept it because it was negligible in cash value. He wouldn't really care if he lost it.

50. What type of music does the character like?

He likes thrash metal the most, although he will also listen to pop, country, or whatever is on the radio.

51. List any past serious relationships that your character has had, and give a brief overview of the relationship.

None. He is happy enough when a woman will even go out with him.

52. Where does your character live? Why does he live there?

His current squat is in the basement of an abandoned tenement building. It is dry and comparatively warm, but lacking in any amenities.

53. Remember, your Gamemaster like detail, so if you can think of any other little details, quirks, or whatever that you think might please the almight GM, then add them in as well. Oh, and your GM won't use any of these details against you at a later date. trust me...:)

Rat is basically a thug, although he is quicker to sneak, scrounge, scavenge, or run away than to confront someone.

[U_Fester]

[Fortune]