Developing a decent backstory to bring my SR3 char build into the SR4 has been a fun experience for the wannabe writer in me. Coming up with what happened to him in the 5-6 years between 2064 when he was last active to the 2070 world has been an interesting exercise.

In SR3 he had a habit of keeping "Parting shot" kinda contingencies, in the event he finally got geeked. Considering his involvement in various things in the years of SR3, he had some decent dirt stored. Basically he called them his 'karma shots'. For friends he had stored info that would be beneficial for them. For enemies or the like, info that would hurt them when placed in the hands of their enemies.

Part of the backstory I came up with between 3 and 4 is that he's literally been on ice. Following the events of one of the last runs he was involved in, his handlers back at the secret org using the CDC as a front, pulled him back from scrutiny and put him in a cryosolution type tube, put him in a form of hibernation and used him as a reference for their ongoing genetic augmentation program. I won't get into that too much, but I figured, since he was out of circulation so long, its likely his "I'm dead" protocols and contingencies went active.

I decided some of it would have gotten delayed possibly lost during the 2nd crash, but still there was enough stuff to make the fallout interesting. Mostly paydata that does some whapping on the Yakuza, supports his mafia friends, helps Rowena out (yeah he was involved in the mob war stuff), helps the Korean mobs out and does some other things for his NAN friends.

It just got me thinking, what sorta stuff do your characters know that would make life really interesting if they weren't around to keep quiet on it anymore? Any regimes you'd end up toppling?

Hmmm, not yet, but now that you mention it....

The only one I can think of is a current character of mine. He's related to a high placed government official and the son of a couple of high-ranking military officers. If he were caught, killed, or even identified as such, it'd probably ruin a few careers.

Actually, I GM'd for one of those characters with the cyber-eye camera. You know the type, he takes a picture of every contact or target when he meets them. What'd happen if his body got grabbed...?

There is that trid manipulation of Lowfyr prancing around in a dragon-sized pink nightie and singing "I'm so pretty" but that's just an image manipulation.

My character ran away from home in 2067, severing all contact with her Ares wageslave parents. She feels a little guilty about this, so she's taken measures to ensure that her parents will be informed in the event of her death. I also expect that if Ares managed to capture her or somehow get access to her genetic material, they might tell Mommy and Daddy about it.