Ok Random Thought, inspired by one of my PbP games (Hi guys!) Is everyone with massive amounts of cyber considered a Street Samurai? Even if their not Japanese. Cause somehow I don't see a NAN brave calling himself a Samurai. Would he be a Street Brave or Street Warrior? (I'm not talking archtypes or mechanics, just fluff and flavour) Or is this just one more example of the strangle hold the Japancorps have on the Sixth World. (BTW I'm playing a black Cape Town native, Somehow I just don't see him calling himself a Samurai)

That is the name most people use for a highly cybered combat type.

I highly doubt that most cybered people would actually think of themselves that way, but it is the popular term.

Nothing quite has the ring like "Street Sammy/Samurai/Sam".

When I first started, the Street sammies where the ones who had a katana, while the rest of the team were just gun bunnies.

In SR, it is usually used to describe the weapons specialist or twitch who will soak the bullets for you or just clear the path. I doubt your character would consider "himself" a street samurai, but others in the shadows may label him as such.

There was an example run in Runner Havens that detailed and AmerInd "Street Samurai", though he was a big ass brave who scalped people.

Street Samurai isn't Japanese specific, just like shamans aren't culture specific either.

Street samurai is a term that can be used generally, to refer to anyone who is heavily augmented and combat-oriented. In this context, it is one of many terms to refer to augmented individuals - vatjobs, gillettes, etc.

It can also be used more specifically, to refer to such an augmented individual who takes pride in having a code of honor, as well as an attitude of elite professionalism. Both the third and fourth editions of the game refer to a code of honor in describing the street samurai archetype, as well as comparing the street samurai to the "dishonorable scum of the sprawl".

Street samurai who use this more specific definition might take umbrage at some augmented thug calling himself a "street samurai".

Is there a difference between a "street sam" and a "razorboy/girl" then?

I sort of got the idea that this these terms were part of the evolution of slang in SR.

I always had the impression that the true Street Samurai was the hard edge with the strong sense of honor, but a complete killing machine when needed to be. Sort of like the original samurai. Where the Razor boys (And the females/gilettes) are more the augmented killers. The professionalism and honor being the difference. I always thought of razorboy as having a more negative connotation. You are calling a street killer a "boy" after all.

So a sammie by any other name....... will still hand you your ass in a fight.

The name carries different meanings in different groups in the Shadowrun world. There are people who hold that anyone with Wired Reflexes is a Street Samurai. There are people who hold that only people who hold to specific virtues or use specific weaponry can be considered a samurai.

And of course, there are some for whom it is entirely impossible for others to live up to being a Street Samurai. Like the whole No True Scottsman thing. Only for people with katanas and street honor.

-Frank

Don't forget the bagpipes to inspire you comrades.

My last SR Demo included a character who was a Dwarven Scottish Druid. I'm going to have to remember to add Performance (Bag Pipes) to the list of skills before I run him though another Demo.

so long as they're retractable cyber bagpipes

I've always considered most of the combat and cyber junkies I've created to be "Cybered Thugs," "Vat Jobs," "Sammies" or something of the like unless they specifically had the Samurai adherence to duty that typifies "Street Samurai." I've created a lot of cybered/bioed combat machines in my day, but relatively few Street Samurai. Several of those non-Samurai characters have, of course, done their best to cash in on the stereotype in-game by calling themselves Street Samurai.

It's always been my feeling that the various terms for cybered characters are on a sort of "respect scale." Street samurai is at the top. It may not *necessarily* denote honor or even professionalism, but definitely skill and experience. Razorboy/girl I believe refers specifically to those with spurs, hand-blades, or hand razors. I've gotten the impression that this is (or was) probably the most common combat-oriented street-mod in use around 2050, but that may no longer be the case. Gillette, on the other hand, is a term ripe with connotation. A gillette is a cheap, disposable razor, and refers to your dime-a-dozen I-think-I'm-so-hot-but-I'm-really-just-a-poser gutter trash who cyber up and then think they can take on the big boys. Of all of the above, I'm certain that the term gillette is derogatory.

OSUMacbeth

I don't think I've heard heard of razorgirl before, I always had it figured as razorboy/gillette.

But look at the sample Street Sam we are present with in both the SR3 and SR4 books. They both knowledge skills involving bushido, zen (well, the SR4 one, been awhile since I saw the SR3 book) and know japanese, despite it not being a native language. Then of course they are highly cybered utilizing alphagrade cyber in both cases. This implies to me at least that street samurai is reserved for those who do follow a code. Someone with just skill and professionalism that happens to be cybered is either just a 'runner or a merc... or a company man. But you get what I'm saying here. (Ok, if you read Fields of Fire, mercs follow codes too, but different ones)

Yes, but SR2 and I think SR3, and maybe even SR4 says this code my be Bushido, or something as simple as Leon's (no women, no kids). So really, unless the fella is just a hired thug, they could qualify for that description.

I think it almost entirely dealing with quality, not character.

Except that the code does make the difference. A merc is not a street sam. The reverse is also true. Different codes. Leon was a hitman with ethics. Although to be fair... I haven't seen any street sams disembowling themselves after a failed run lately. damn seppuku/hari kiri

In SR1 and the other older editions of the game, Street Samurai were held to be the elite of the shadows and that they did follow a code, probably something like Bushido. That made them different from the mercs and razorboys and girls. Other people could get loads of cyber, but if they didn't follow the code, they weren't samurai.

Yes, there were razorgirls. One GM used an encounter from the old Street Survival Guide I think it was where the characters encountered a women trapped in a phone booth by a number of ghouls. The characters went to help, but it turned out the woman was really a Street Samurai who came out swinging once the odds were more even. The GM had modified her so that instead of being huge and muscular like the male street sammie in the book, to be built for speed and she was really fast. Because they helped her out, she became a contact for the team. Obnoxious SOB that he was, the GM also had her take a shine to my Elf Shaman.

I'm more than willing to bet its a little of column A and a little of column B.

Heh, you know what this thread shows? There are many opinons on what exactly a Street Samurai is, and there are probably as many opinions ingame as out of it, if not more.

I think that we can agree that being from the streets is a defining quality: Otherwise you would be a Samurai. Red Samurai are not called Street Sammies, for example.

I think I can sum up some of the opinions of what a sammie is:

- A cybered warrior

- A cybered warrior with a code of honor

- A warrior with the bushido code of honor (cyber or not)

- A japanese cybered warrior following bushido

I think there are a few we can agree to NOT being Sammies though. For instance, common thugs and gang members with no cyber, no honor will problably not be called sammies even though they are warriors.

...I would add an Adept of the Warrior's Way who follows the Bushido Code.

Each "street samurai" will probably have a highly individualized notion of what a street samuarai is. And I imagine that violent disagreements often arise over the use of the term - after all, this is the same universe where you can get in trouble with Japanese corporate lackeys if they catch your character wearing the two samurai swords.

There is probably a lot of that contempt going the other way, though, from the "dishonorable scum of the sprawl", who will probably sneer at the entire concept of honor. And other professionals who do have a code of honor, like some mercs, might still look askance at a street punk attempting to emulate an ancient code of honor used by hereditary feudal nobility, who would do things like lop the heads off of peasants for daring to look them in the eyes.

Ask ten Street Samurai what is a Street Samurai.

Get Twelve different answers.



















That said: Fighty types. Augmented (cyber). Those are two constants of ever Sam. Just like Frank said earlier. All else is negotiable.

..by Frank Trollman's definition KK fits the mold pretty well.

...She Is definitely augmented (Adept)
...She is a Warrior above everything else
...She follows the Bushido Code
...She also follows the positive tenets of the old Cowboy Code
...She uses both a Katana and Wakasashi
...Though an Anglo, she is well schooled in Nipponese culture (having trained for several years in a respected dojo in Kyoto) and speaks the language fluently
...She most definitely would never work for the "man"
...Her master is her Sensei
...She runs the Shadows
...She definitely holds herself to a higher standard than the average street rabble
...She is Honourable.

Ironically enough, KK....

I wouldn't consider your character a Street Sam. You're an Adept. Different critter. I can't speak for the whole world, but just about every SR game I've played in has referred to anyone with the Adept power as 'Adept' NEVER as a Sam.

Just one of those things. Notice the proliferation of adept vs. samurai threads at various times....

That's a good underlining of the difficulties in nailing down that terminology.

Some people make a distinction between "cyber samurai" and "adept samurai" amongst the "street samurai". Others make no distinction. Still others consider adepts to not be street samurai in the first place.

Similarly, some people (especially Yakuza affiliates) make a distinction that those who aren't "Really Nihon" or who serve multiple masters as a Shadowrunner does aren't really samurai.

Basically you can't win. There is nothing you can possibly do that won't get you a stern lecture about how you are an honorless dog who is no true samurai. Not from everyone mind, but from somebody.

---

As an example: The Red Samurai consider people who run the shadows to be ronin at best - they lack the loyalty of a samurai or they would not work for different Johnsons day to day. On the other hand, the Red Samurai count the powers of the Adept and the might of steel no differently and consider the abilities granted by either as equivalent.

-Frank

Razor boy/girl does mean cyber with some kind of sharp pointy thing. It comes from Neuromancer. The main female character was often referred to as a Razor Girl.

I prefer the term Mercenary, someone who works merely for money. Good enough for me.