One day, I hope to base a Mr. Johnson off of my Uncle John. He's a complete and utter bastard, yet I love the man: he's like a wealthy, sophisticated version of Archie Bunker. In the real world, Uncle John runs a small software company's Swiss branch with an iron fist, but he also enjoys other ruthless activities, such as killing innocent woodland creatures and watching Fox News. In SR, he'd meet the team at a fancy steakhouse, agitate any metahumans in the party by making passing comments about the troll's intimidating size or the elf's effeminate looks, have a (relatively) pleasant dinner while discussing the run, pay the bill, and go home to begin orchestrating his inevitable betrayal.

I'm sure that many of you know at least one person who would fit in nicely with the shadow players of the Sixth World. Please, share that person with us!

Back in the SR2 days, I actually dropped an elderly version of my gaming group into the campaign as 'background npc's' at a small gun-shop run by the older version of me. Whenever the players showed up, I described this group of four crusty old men sitting around a card table piled with books and dice.

It took them three meets before they figured it out. They loved it!

CHUCK NORRIS EXISTS TO MAKE THE PCS IRRELEVANT.

Bob Barker. YES, HE'S STILL ALIVE.

One of my player's taught his PC martial arts. He did. In the future. He dropped himself into the game. It's always great to hear him talk about both characters in first person. "Yeah, so it all started when I adopted...myself"

I had a SERE instructor who would make a good runner. He's completely unfazable; never loses his cool, and has such a dry sense of humour that you don't realize you've been burnt until a couple of minutes afterwards. He knows more about practical military stuff than anyone else I've met, and is great at discarding theoretical crap in favour of grassroots tricks and improvisation. He loves to joke around, especially at the expense of people who take themselves too seriously. He'd make a great samurai or merc.

I also met a young Cree guy who, by all accounts, is likely to be elected chief in his home town. Handsome, charming, people-smart if not particularly well educated. Girls love him. Practices all of his people's traditions, but wise to modern stuff. His prized possessions are his eagle feather and his brand new 4x4.

I know a martial arts instructor --unfortunately, a genuinely skilled one-- with a tendancy for cocaine use and a lot of shady buddies.

Then there's this street-kid that I used to work with. I use the term "kid" loosely, because he's only a couple of years younger than me. Guy refuses to wear anything but black, yet he has to get his clothes free from charities. Walks around with a chip on his shoulder the size of an oak. Loves to tell stories about people he's messed up and people he's gonna, but somehow disappears when those people come around. Carries an x-acto knife in his pocket, and whenever he wants to look tough, he sits and flicks it in-and-out, in-and-out. This guy has "wannabe samurai" written all over him, especially when he does the thing with the knife.

But my absolute favourite: I knew this girl. Hot, with a remarkably Sally Tsung kind of look. Had a job that involved a gun. Excellent martial artist. Aggressive attitude. And a lesbian... with an equally hot girlfriend. If that ain't SR, I don't know what is.

I happen to know some guys who are just fit for the shadowrun universe.

Mr. Nagao - The father of my ex-wife. An old japanese fellow, badly acquainted with the brazilian way of living, who uses to smoke pack after pack of cigarettes and runs a small biz selling car batteries, but gets most of his money on dishonest gambling and who knows what other sort of crookery. I would add some more to the real thing before inserting him in my campaign, perhaps some ties with the yaks or some sort of shadow casino that he could be running.

Ed Vantuil, aka "Tuil" (too-ill) or "Tuiú" (too-yoo) - A huge fat black guy who runs a protection racket in a hood 5 minutes from here. Loved by some, hated by others, the guy is so big that once i saw him sleeping in the park bench laying on his side in a way that his head wouldn´t touch the bench. One day i was in a restaurant and Tuil entered, smashed a couple chairs in some guy´s back and left with no further comments. He knows everybody by first name.

Alejandro - One of my best friends and godfather of my son. He simply knows everyone. He works fixing old computers nowadays, but he used to pay his rent selling poetry in the traffic lights or as a clown in kid´s parties. Simply knows all the bartenders in town and owes some money to most of them. Used to live in a building right next to a heavy prostituition zone, so he made friends with some of them. He´s able to talk nonstop about any topic for hours, be it philosophy, computers, cooking, dope, astrology, rpgs, crime, politics... Surely a funny contact to have, if the GM is in the mood to roleplay his loquacity to it´s full extent.

Herr Grella - My ex-boss. I used to work with him when i was in germany. He runs a networking company in Cologne but he also owns a motorbike workshop. Has a very bad temper when it comes to the tech biz, but has a completely different personality when it comes to his bikes. (He used to have around 10 bikes, not accounting for all the broken ones that he buys in winter, fixes, and sells in the summer). He´s now investing his money building a hotel in Paraguay, so that he has a place to go when he gets old. I would say he´s a mix of Johson, Mechanic and Tech Wiz.

Will

One day, I think my dad might make it into Shadowrun.

He was a high-paid wage-slave for a major bank since the early-80s, offered many chances to defect to other banks but stayed loyal. In the end, the offers dried up and his department was reduced from a whole team to one person.

Soon after, he became a shamanist. Asatru rather than Native-American but it did seem to help him. Then he had a bad experience with a vision-quest or something along those lines and stopped. Something about scary totems.

Think about it, ex-corporate whore, ex-shaman, dispossessed and just about ready to drop out of the system. He is a man waiting to become a runner...

Keith Richards. He's got to be a vampire or something--if he hasn't died by now, looking like he does, he's probably never going to. They even made a joke about it on the press pass for Dunkelzahn's inauguration.

i've always had the urge to take some random real-life celebrity and have them still be alive in 2060x, due to the wonders of modern technology. i wouldn't have them still be celebrities, though--i want to see something like Antonio Banderas, having fallen from the heights of movie stardom, become a cybered-out street sam. maybe i'm weird.

Me

Me, too. Muhahahahaha!!!

I'm actually thinking of doing that someday. You'd be one-half of an eccentric NPC duo: You'll be an eternally optimistic mage who's always coming up with wacky ideas, and your associate will be a constantly cynical hacker who's always shooting them down. Her name will be Yin.

A sister's coworker, a former SEAL, now a practicing attorney for a large firm in litigation. He comes in early even on Sundays to work (when his wife is out of town). A perfectionist who is not only experienced in kicking your arse on the streets but can also take you down in the courtroom.

Actually, this brings up a related question of which character (PC, NPC, metaplot character) you would like to see in OUR world.

Nadja Daviar + Chasey Lain. oh hell yes!

come on, you were all thinking it.

Actually I prefer my fantasies about Nadja... er, I mean, "No, that's gross."

I would actually like to incorporate some people I know as themselves into SR, but damned if leonization only goes so far.

as a part of my depression therapy, i was asked to make up a charactor using my self as the charactor. when it was completed i liked it so much i added cyber and had a good npc sammy. he worked out very well. but i must admit it was hard to kill my self off when the time came

Oh, I meant someone else.

Whenever I have a run in with a particularly memorable service sector employee they tend to show up in a game sooner or later. Example, if I get a Surly Barista making my morning espresso on game day you can bet that a caricature of this person will appear in a bit part in the game. Another one I've done is a Johnson based off my hyperactive 67 year old egyptian office manager, um lets just say you'd have to work here to truly understand. I've used truck dispatchers I work with as characters too.