This recruitment thread is going to be slightly different than others.

Building Guidelines:
SR4, make the character you want to play.

The story will be built around the characters, so when you pitch your character, I'd like the following questions answered:

Teamwork or disparate individuals?

Legit, quasi-legit, shadow community?

Traditional structure, or something different? (Bounty hunting, Military, DocWagon, etc)

Note: Characters who come across as actual people, rather than a collection of numbers, are more likely to be chosen.

By make the character I wnt to play what do you mean? Is this no points limit or just no limit on concept.

I have a cool idea for a La Parkor B+E specialist or a Face/spy adept (maybe mystic adept)

I'm not limiting it to 400 BPs or a fixed karma amount. Build the character you want to play, if that means you need a few more points here or there, then do it.

The counterpoint there, is that I don't want random collections of numbers. Which means your skill selection and ratings, should be reflected by your background.

This definatly sounds interesting. As for the questions you want answered, is it something we should discuss here and come to some agreement on? or is it something you want answered for each individual character?

I'd say to submit your choices with your character concept. That way, as more people drop ideas in here, a discussion can start forming around the areas where different opinions come out.

Ha, I wanna play Bubbles the technicolor troll ganger thief!

No, she doesn't steal technicolor troll gangers.

PHEW!

I think I'll throw my chips in. Trying to keep to 400 BPs, but will probably go over. McQuillian, expect a PM.

Yeah, I've got the night off, and was planning to get to a bunch of role-playing stuff anyways, so I will see what I can put together. I've got some cool ideas, and it would be fun to roll with Bubbles again.

I have something, or rather someone in mind. I'll see what I can pull together.

As for game concepts, I'm not too keen on the whole DocWagon thing. And if we're going to do the 'Strike Team' route, military or Corp are pretty much interchangeable on a basic scale. A Gang-style campaign might be interesting, but not easy to pull off in this format (and I'm not thrilled by the idea of yet another low-powered game).

So, to sum up ... I'm somewhat easy.

Man, and I thought the Doc Wagon game sounded RAD.

I think you're rather underestimating McQuillan.

My problem with it would be that if we went with that idea we would all need to make characters with that in mind. It sounds like some people have ideas that they are hopping to apply to this game - so if we went with something like that, we would need to decide to in this board rather early on in the char-gen process, so everyone has a chance to come up with some new ideas.

And then there's Farewll to Arms for a classic.

And we can always look to the long running show... what was it.. M.A.S.H.

But I guess there's never enough material.

I'm playing:

Former KE SWAT cop, through twists and turns (hard to summarize without posting my BG here...) wound up a staffer with a field office for the UCAS Senate Committee on the Judiciary in Seattle.

As he's an adrenaline junkie, he's been doing bodyguarding on the side.

Oh, man, a MASH campaign would RULE.

I've always wanted to include that in a fantasy game... the heroes get sent to support a medical/magical camp behind the front lines where a bunch of wise-cracking priests are on hand to take patients dropped off by the griffins or zeppelins. Whee!

Anyway.

DocWagon

PROS
- Built in team-ness, complete with roles (Rigger, Medicos, Gun-Bunnies)
- Built in team focus - threads often flounder in the planning stages of a run(anyone care to debate that?), the very good focus of rescue/extraction should streamline that. Add that to built-in team-ness and I think you have shadowrun gold.
- Get to haul stupid shadowrunners' hoops out of a sling, instead of being the stupid shadowrunner. Not that runners typically have anything so legit as a DW account...
- It's nice to be legit and still get to play with the happy toys

CONS
- Not very sexy (arguable)
- It sucks to be legit, being owned by a corp is bad
- Players may feel constrained in chargen by having to make PCs with a real job


Urban Brawl team

PROS
- Built in team-ness, complete with roles (Outriders, etc)
- Built in team focus - WIN AT ALL COSTS!
- Wrecking shit and it's legal!
- Any and all are welcome
- Not all the 'runs' will be matches
- Fame

CONS
- Really dangerous
- Corp or Country owns your ass
- Curfew (hahahhaha)
- Contracts

Oooh, color me interested. I have a character concept stewing away in the back of my mind, but he might be a bit too dark for this game, depending on what kind of style we go with. I'll polish it up and submit him just for the heck of it anyway.

I would like to avoid a military or Docwagon campaign. My La Parkour would work well in several set ups as long as mobility was important. The face idea needs to intrigue side of things really but goverment would work for her.

A game working for the Draco's appeals to me, or anything where the mystic side of SR comes up.

Sure. I wouldn't want to bring, say, a psychotic murderer into a DocWagon-themed game.

My preference is for a more-or-less bog-standard SR game, but that's because I'm trying to use this to learn SR4.

I like the way you think!

Thus far I have received concepts from:
Penta
Adamu

From what I have gleaned from those concepts, as well as, conversations with a few other people, it seems that the teamwork angle is winning. Additionally, the quasi-legit angle is in the lead. Please keep that in mind when throwing concepts around.

Dark is fine with me. I have no problems with troubled individuals, with the caveat that they have something redeeming about them. (Even anti-heroes have to have a reason for us to like them...)

Sparky--To run with your Urban Brawl idea, if the players don't think that would suit them, but do want to have a team atmosphere, you could play a young brawler who was talented but didn't have that flair and pizzazz needed to make Outrider. Now he/she is hitting the shadows and blurring the edges of legality to add some bonafide street cred to his/her name and hopes to get into the UBL next year as a free agent.

I can work out a suitable spin for DW if you'd like me to...

One more vote for the teamwork angle. Being friends is fun.

Incidentally, the character I'll be sending in for consideration is about as close to being a psychotic murderer as any I've ever made. I tend to play the good guy in most games, so this oughta be interesting.

Nice list Fortune, Arleesh could be fun to work for. Or the UN (as long as blue beret's are optional).

Well... question for you, how do you write up a good backstory for a character if you dont even know the setting you are going to be playing in? I can create and write up something to fit almost any scenario, but without knowing what the scene is, it is kinda hard.

I was planning on keeping the concepts "vague" in parts, then flesh out fully when we know what we're doing properly.

[edit]Concepts sent in as PM[/edit]

Okay, I am submitting an existing (sort of - three month DS game that ended abruptly) character named Al Guthrie.
Al is SINless, but has travelled around the world working whatever jobs he can - sailor, guide, smuggler, dock worker, and so on. He's a bit rough around the edges, and thinks far too much of himself. But he's a can-do guy that is up for anything that'll make him enough cash for beer and smokes without tying him down too much.
Per his backstory, he is currently in Seattle recovering from a nasty disease that took a lot out of him. So I'd like to start there, but that's just my vote. Really, anything but SoCal would be fine with him/me.
Personally, teams are more fun - but I can go either way.
And as for the type of "work," Al is qualified for just about anything. Really.

I'm thinking of submitting a bounty hunter with face abilities... Until I know what exactly we are going to be doing and where, I cant really throw together a full background.

Concepts that I have received:
Penta
Adamu
Ophis
Krayola red

Fortune--You are correct that I did not explicitly ask for concepts, however, since people have been PMing them to me, I wanted to list them so that people knew that I had received them.

Konsaki--I would write the background the same way I write all of my characters. Begin with a rough concept or idea, then look at the way that concept would adjust to life, what obstacles, adversity etc, would the character face. Once I have a personality forged, I add in the stats and mechanics that would allow the character to fulfill his/her niche.

RE: Story/Location/Genre/Concept--As I stated in my first post, I want to build the story around the characters. What that means is that if I am presented with a handful of characters who are team oriented, legit to quasi-legit, and want to work for the Draco/DIMR then that's the game I'm going to run. If instead I get feedback from players to do a survivalist story, where a disparate group of individuals are forced to cooperate in order to overcome desperate times, then I will do that.

I understand that this role reversal, where the players tell the GM what kind of game to run is a little different. My hope is that by giving you, the players, more control over the type of story, it will engender more interest and sustainability for the game and cut down on the attrition that PbP games are riddled with.

Bubbles

Gum chewing effervescent Teeny Bopper troll gangerette, thief, thrill seeker looking to
go "pro" and not knowing what it means.

-----------
The StoreFront Job

We scoped out a sweet deal, this place was part of a chain, tiny store front, but it served as a transfer point for special shipments. It was the hub for the entire Seattle distribution. We checked out their routine on the previous release, so we knew what we needed. Problem was we needed at least an hour after the break in to get enough time to get the material to the sim pirates and of all the things the manager of the store actually broke out some special retro mechanical locks. No way we could do a smash and grab and get enough time, so we hit the comms. Turns out an old fence I knew, knew someone who knew someone and so there we were, engines warmed up, route scouted, the pirates all ready to go when all of a sudden "POP" and I got Betsy half way down the street, leaving half my slicks on the road, before I realize it was the darned locksmith showing up.

Next thing I know, I'm standing next to this gum chewing trog with fingers like sausages handling these little metal toothpicks on these set of locks. Pop pop those locks just open on up. Darned obselete things. Then one of the locks gets all jammed up or something. She just looks at me, blows out this enormous bubble, bigger then my head, then says, "You ready to run little cute tusker boy?" and I just about wet my pants. She sucks all the air out of the bubble, pinches apart the chain with the tips of her fingers on one hand. As the chain pools on the ground she presses me back out of the way with one meaty paw, while in the other she unspools something and next thing I know the whole store front grates is coming apart in sections.

The fraggin alarm light is blinking on the controls just inside the glass door, and she steps over the grates, gives me a wink, and says "Start counting to 10 cutie...". I'm thinkin frag that, in that time Betsy could get me two blocks away. But I stick it out. Couple swipes with her card, she's in, and she hooks up a box to the alarm controls and punches a few buttons. Lights go green, and in I go. Darned if she don't grab the back of my pants as I run in and give me a slap. I turn around to glare at her and give her the stare, and she's got my mask in her hand and even bigger super trog sized grin on. Trying to stare down someone with a tooth bigger then two of your fingers grinning at you is kinda hard.

Lucky for me it turns out she re routed the external surveillance feed and all she had to do was wipe the internal memory in the cam. I'm not sure if she did though, she took the cam with her, saying something about wanting a memento of our date.

I heard later that her name is Bubbles.
----------------

More details and fleshed out to fit however the campaign sets up.

Into the Teamwork, Quasi Legit - Shadow Community options.

Just to give everyone a heads up, the guy I'm working on is a magician of still undetermined tradition. He's a fairly new face in the Seattle underground, and he seems to be willing to take any kind of job provided that it pays well. He calls himself Jack Nightingale, and the street low down on him is this: he's a pretty good mage, has a silver tongue that could pacify a hungry lioness, and isn't afraid to dirty his hands if that's what's necessary to get the job done. Rumor has it he also has some kind of beef against Aztechnology, but that's just hearsay.

As for the whole concept/setting issue, I just did what McQuillan asked and sent him a character I was interested in playing. If it turns out that he wouldn't tally with the vibe of the game, hey, reading a good thread is almost as interesting as playing in one.

"Fade"
S/B/T/F 27. Down-and-Out-Ex-Urban-Brawler, slinking around Seattle and trying to put together enough cred to keep her in food and ammo and pay rent on a storage unit. She's been in Seattle for a few years. She's worked one-off jobs, mostly legit stuff - one notable not legit job that was quite enough for her thanks - for a long time and is getting sick of sorting and resorting the pecking order every blessed job. She'd like, though she hasn't really put a finger on it herself, a regular crew to work with. You know, chums.

Bubbles' opposite in many ways.

Fade is mean like that.

I have been itching to learn more SR4 and I have enjoyed your games in the past so I am throwing my hat in as well. I will mull over some ideas and send you a PM with some choices.

Will sent character concept as soon as i get a e-mail addy fromt eh GM =)

Okays I've put in two concepts, and will play which ever fits best.

Concept 1:- Sun - Social chameleon and spy, female elf(human looking) built to talk/sleep her way into anywhere and get the info needed. Low on combat high on social. Deep dark history and political connections, face and legwork girl for a group.

Concept 2:- Domino - Athletes way adept, bored rich kid with risky hobby, La Pakour runner and cat burgler, a sort of second storey man, twenty second storey. Light on the deep dark front, fun and flashy.

Both chaarcters could work fine in legit or the shadows, both are shadowy really but it's in the background.

Sent concept

Sent in Zak Anderson, Bounty Hunter.