I've been gaming a while, a long enough time that I've had players born after I started (egads), thankfully rarely... and I've made literally thousands of characters over the years, in dozens of game systems, four editions of Shadowrun included. Some to experiment with the system, some for my own amusement, more than a few for play.

I've also gamemastered, roughly as many systems as I've played in, and over the years I've noticed that many players have methods of designing a character that are, frankly, bizzare to me. Some struggle with things I think are simple, yet breeze through things I agonize over. Many, despite understanding the game, simply don't have a method at all, and practically slap things on their sheet willy-nilly.

So, with the spirit of sharing (it Christmas! Woot!... I mean EASTER!, yeah!) and general tomfoolery in mind I thought I'd ask 'how you Do-it...'

Its only fair that I start first, let the 'trade secrets' out of me bag, at least for SR4.

Like anyone else I start with an idea of what I want to get. This is pretty obvious, but its worth mentioning because it can alter my method a bit somewhere along the line. Sometimes the 'Idea' is less 'Street sammy with sweet sword skills' and more 'I wonder if I can make Rule X work for me this time. Lets suggest Rule X is, say, Exceptional Attribute in this case...

Step two is I set aside my points for attributes. I always set aside the maximum allowed, partly because of my philosophy, and partly because it makes good sense in SR4's ruleset to do so. I don't actually ASSIGN those points at this stage, but I will make a note that I have twenty attribute points to distribute for later. Now, since I just said I was making an 'exceptional attribute' character, in this case I can only assign 195 points, due to the fact that I pretty much HAVE to buy up to the Hard Cap. That also converts to 18 attribute points (with one hitting the hard cap... which I would write down at this point so i don't forget)

After that come any 'special expenses'. You know, things like 'racial cost' or 'magic attribute' or 'Edge'. Of course, I keep a running total of expenses on the side of my scrap sheet. Note that I will also positively identify if I plan to make a hybrid here, with cyber/bio and magic/resonance, and determine in whole numbers how much essence to commit and annotate the 'lost' magic at this time.

Generally I hit qualities next. My philosophy here is to hit a balance of 0 points here. If I don't want/need any positive qualities I'll actually avoid the negative ones unless there is a pressing need for a given quality for the 'concept' in my head, or I think something neat to add to the character. For example I might think having someone with a jacked up magical aura just seems awesome for a pit fighter (adept) type, so I'll pick up Astral Beacon and Spirit Bane as the just seem to fit. Depending upon how the concept shapes up I might consider an addiction to pain killers or, especially if I'm playing a 'high magic' character, an 'allergy'. Me? I've got a fixation on a mild sunlight allergy thanks to this girl I was sweet on as a teenager, so that's often a first choice if I want to play up that route (and no, Goth's weren't part of it... That's an addiction to drama quality) Sometimes my flaws will give me points to pick up some advantages I might have ignored (first impression for a non-face) just to keep it balanced, and in concept.

At this point I'll usually have a good idea on how 'equipment heavy' the character is, so I'll set aside the 'gear points' at this time too. I only have two defaults to go on here: If the character is 'cybered up' I always take max value, if the character is not, I give them enough points to hold them (lets say 5) for most expenses. Not that 'cybered up' necessarily means they'll be spending it all (or much) on Cyberware. This COULD be a mage's tools, a rigger's drones, or whatever. I use the 'cybered up' comment because I typically get a lot... or none, and that is the big expense.

I'll also assign some 'Contact points' at this point just to avoid overlooking them. I'm usually content with jsut a few ok contacts or one great/ contact so you'll rarely see more than ten points (again, look to concept).

Now, by this point I'm down to 'leftovers', which is still generally going to be a decently high number (round 100 points commonly).

Of course, If its a mage (or technomancer) their spell/CF points come out here, at least notionally. Since I don't like being too hard up for skill points, I try to reserve at least 70-80 points even then... and would, at this point, look at going backwards to see if I overspent somewhere else (gear and contacts can get reduced drastically at this point, and I'd be looking at stripping away excess positive qualities or actually adding more negatives if its really tight... This may even be were I decide that I don't need, say, a 5 magic and can get by with a four or even a three...doubtful, but...)

At this point I write down what skills I think I want, in order of importance. I generally try to keep the list short, only including those that are aboslutely vital to the concept and general purpose running. Then I divvy up the last points I have left among the skills, with the idea of having some leftovers. Obviously skill groups and specializations are applied where necessary, though I've moved away from getting too many groups as they are a hard point sink.

If I've done it right I've got maybe 20 points left which could go to spell/CF stuff if necessary (rather not...), or, as I really like to do, I start cherry picking skills that seem like interesting additions. This is where the Sammy get 'pilot ground' or 'auto mech', or maybe exotic weapon:powersquirt. You never know, but I like the flavor it gives the character.

NOW I write down the actual attributes, just start from the minimum and divvy up the 20 (or 18 in this case) points among the eight stats, with the idea that they all get at least one... Once I've got them I'll also write in the 'maximum' it can be augmented to.

Then I spend the money. I usually have a few 'go to' items that are givens that will get written down and accounted for no matter what. Armor jacket, predator and some ammo. Cyberware usually includes things like Wired reflexes OR synaptic accelerator as a standard (depending on how bad I want to strain the budget for IPs). I like to get the bulk expenses out of the way. I've found that typically the non-bulk stuff can be used for only a point or two of BP. The last thing bought is lifestyle, any left over points are shuffled back into skills usually at this point (great for that specialization you wanted but couldn't quite afford, or boost that one skill that just feels.... low). then I apply whatever modifiers to my attributes/skills from the cyberware.

Any 'adept powers' would come here, just about dead last. I know how many points I've got to spend, I know roughly what I want/need (from the concept) and I usually have some PP left over to do something nifty (Mystic armor? Why not) OR I spent it all on the one big concept power I wanted.

Then I do contacts. Again, if I just can't think of how to spend a few last points, they get shuffle back into skills. Generally I'll just assign a value and a general role at this stage.

The LAST thing I do is assign knowledge skills. Seriously, I practically view this as an appendix on the character. Not that I ignore it (but a shocking percentage of my points go into languages). Like edge I just don't see Knowledge Skills come up all that often in the games I've played in.

Once its all mechanically done, I just write up the 'in game' details, usually coming up with a name, look and the niggling stuff like who those contacts actually are.




As this was much longer than I anticipated, I'll do a brief summary of the highlights.

Attributes get max points which are converted to simple numbers (20 attribute points) immedeatly, but are assigned near the end of character creation.

Qualities are designed to balance out when possible

Skills are spent pretty much last, after all other points have been assigned, but are spent directly as soon as the correct point value is known. A few points are reserved for oddball skill choices when possible.

Money is spent after skills from a pool assigned earlier, and any rebates tend to go back to skills, ditto contacts.

Spike loves the sound of his own keyboard and will 'talk' your ear off if you let him.

I decide what skills define my character and the rest virtually writes itself. Call it shallow if you want, but people are defined more by what they do than people like to admit. There's a reason you don't hear about Michael Jordan often if people aren't talking about basketball nor do you hear about Einstein much while watching the Knicks. It's not so much powergaming so much as it is ensuring that your character has a niche and that you aren't basically wasting everyone else's time, pretzels and oxygen when the GM asks you what your actions are.

Let's say I want to make a Samurai. A Street Samurai should fast, athletic and deadly with a few key combat skills (I consider having broad combat skills to be Merc/Weapon Specialist territory) and the Perception and Stealth skills needed so they're the guys doing the ambushin' rather than being a smear on the wall. So Reaction and Agility are the key stats, with Strength, Intuition, Body playing lesser but still important roles while Willpower, Logic and Charisma are more tertiary concerns. Edge is also important and I'm quite willing to have sub a below 200 point attribute total to accomodate a decent Edge pool if I have to. Wired Reflexes, Attention coprocessors, Synthacardium and Muscle Toners are all affordable and dovetail nicely with prime directives and Skillwires have a place on any mundane. Heavy Weapons, Perception, Automatics, a Close Combat skill, and some combination of Infiltration/Stealth and Gymnastics/Athletics are all classic Samurai skills and already we've got the majority of the character's points pretty well spent.

Usually I start with a concept, then make about 20 drafts of the character sheet until the backstory blends with the mechanics nicely. If I screw up I start over from scratch. Like I just finished making a mage but then at the end realized that I forgot to save points for spells, so I tossed him and started over. I like to make him good in his chosen areas, like 22 dice to bind plant spirits to spell bind my increased willpower spells for 2 months each or whatever.

But personality and concept are always first.

I kind of walk the line between you two. I think of what I would have fun having my character do. Most of the time that is some combination of finding an interested mechanic, and picking skills I like. And yeah, I do generally write a back story to justify what I want on my sheet. My next concern is making sure that I have some bit of shtick so I can RP reflectively to guaranty a manual amount of RP no matter what. They I just kinda round things out as i get excited about them. I also try to leave a lot of open space so i can fill it in in relation to the other players and campaign

I always kinda feel bad about having guys like Lord Ben at my table because I kill PCs at a pretty fair clip. Not saying the sheets he makes are weak or anything, mind you; I've seen some quite powerful sheets with very thorough and logical backgrounds that are far from a justification for a shopping list before, so I know it can be done. I just usually end up killing those guys too.

The first thing is always concept. That is a definite must. Mr. Lucky, for example, was based on a friend of mine, who dresses like a cowboy and has this incredibly thick southern accent. He's good with pistols, so Mr. Lucky became a pistol samurai. He also is incredibly lucky when he went to the riverboats. Jimmy doesn't gamble much, but when he does, he comes home usually a few thousand ahead.

The next step is to sketch out a backstory. You don't have to be too detailed at this point, but you should have a rough idea of where your character came from, what his goals are, and how he's going to reach them. This also gives you a rough idea of what the character should be able to do. We give Mr. Lucky the story of a farmer's son, whose homestead was ruthlessly stolen from them by corporate dirty tactics. He went into the shadows to get revenge on the corporations who took his farm.

Now we get into the numbers. The first thing to pick are your Race, and Edges/Flaws. This is critical, because some thing depend entirely on the ones you select. For example, if you want a mage, this is where that decision is made. Choices like Aspected mage, Incompetences, and Exceptional Attribute all make a huge difference in how the character works out. At this stage, we need to pick Lucky, and Aptitude: Pistols to round out the concept. Jimmy isn't too good with technical things (he has trouble operating a Mac) so a lot of technical Incompetences fit here. Our story also says he was born to a normal family, so SINner is mandatory.

The next thing to do is buy up the stats that matter most to your character. If you're a decker, this means computer skills and programs. If you're a mage, this means magic stuff. For Mr. Lucky, it means Pistols, Quickness, and Edge. Since he's a mundane, we also set aside a fair amount of points for 'ware, and sketch out what we'll be buying.

Around this point, I like to buy Knowledge skills. Since they're essentially free, I like to go hog-wild with them, buying stuff to flesh out the concept rather than finding "useful" ones. Go nuts, here; this is where the concept is really going to come alive.

The rest is filling in the blanks. You like to set aside the max for attributes, which isn't a bad idea; but buy up the necessary ones first. You don't necessarily need a "dump stat", but you do need to prioritize. You also need to pick the minimum amount of skills necessary to accomplish exactly what you want. Skill-intensive characters are fun, but you don't want to be wasting points, either. If a skill isn't important to your concept, don't take it.

Gear works the same way: just focus on the concept. A custom cyberlimb might be cool, but unless your concept calls for one, don't get it. Here, though, I suggest you work in reverse: buy what you need, then subtract it from your available points. That way, you won't be going back-and-forth trying to get that last piece of gear.

That should do it. I hope that helps!

I normally get an idea for a few lines of back-and-forth smacktalk, a one-liner of a combat scene, or a solid mental image of a character wearing a certain outfit and looking a certain way (normally while doing something illegal). That's how it all starts.

My longest running character started out as a guy in a high-tech stealth/commando suit, crawling from a dumpster with no idea how he'd gotten there. Another appeared to me while leaping out a window, naked, with a sword in his hand. One character first popped into my head running across a street with a shotgun, tripping on the curb and turning it into a roll that planted his back to the wall, and then tossing a shotgun through the window he was near. I get some little blurb of a character, like a 3-4 second scene from a movie trailer, and that becomes the seed for an idea.

Then I write about ten or twelve pages of short fiction on 'em, to get to whatever freeze-frame I had when I first had the character idea, and to make whatever madness I had in my head fit into the game world. Ho ho ho. "Twenty questions, schmenty questions." I also make a point of not sleeping much for two or three days after getting a new character idea, because I'm busy thinking about how they got along with their parents, how they did in school, what their first fight was like, why they're not holding down a normal job somewhere, and how and why they killed their first fellow sentient. Why? Because I'm an idiot and a madman, that's why.

Then I try to cram all the "cool" from that fiction onto a character sheet. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The numbers don't really matter to me that much, as long as the stuff that comes up in their story is possible with whatever stats and skills they end up with.

Cain and I apparently build characters in an extremely similar fashion. My earlier post came across as more powergamer-ish than I had intended it to be, but Cain's general theme of securing what you need to fill your role/concept and working from there is really the crux of what I do. If nothing else, it lets you quickly ascertain whether a character will fit a concept mechanically or is merely a pretender. If you're starting to hit totals like a 125+ BPs in skills right away simply to cover your primary goals before getting staples like a firearm skill, evasion skill and Perception, than you should start considering whether the build will really be workable before you start getting into the really fiddly stuff like Gear lists and kitting out a commlink.

...usually I find a bullet to the brainpan or katana to the neck does the trick...

[pause]

Oopsie, you mean "doing" as in designing a character, not taking one down. My bad

Actually, I think my method has a lot in common with Critias's, only I tend to do it much faster, and I glossed over the conception stage to hit the mechanics of getting numbers on paper.

Of course, I don't see movies in my head, even in memories, so that's out, and I am perfectly capable of taking a blurb that is utterly metagaming related and making an entire character out of it. Of course, all that backstory stuff (and I do mean ALL) comes throughout the entire creation process and beyond. As long as play hasn't started I'm spinning entire stories around the guy to help tease out details. Of course I also tend to look at characters as studies in anthropology and psychology so I get deep... Thank god I never got into collegiate course on those topics, I'd still be working on the first character I made after starting class....theoretically.

It's just too painful to go into. I agonize over characters. I'm never quite satisfied.

I do as well. While I can get the basic framework of a character done in about two hours, fine tuning the last 40-50 points takes me forever. The gear lists take quite a while as well. Between the two, I've never been able to create a SR4 character in less than 3 hours, and usually much longer. Mr. Lucky's gear list took almost a full day, and the full character took 3.

What? You can create characters? Damn! All this time we've been using the ones provided in the book. This could open up a whole new aspect to the game.


Seriously, I don't have one hard fast way. Maybe a "typical" one, tho'.

Let's say it's as normal: Your gamer buddy says "Hey, I am wanting to start up a new Shadowrun campaign. I've had a few ideas recently that I think will make for a cool campaign. I've talked to Fred and Tom and Dick and they are all in and working up some characters. Why don't you start working up one.

You think to yourself "Woo hoo!"

Step 1: Intel

Usually, I try to find out as much about the campaign as possible from the GM. I pick his brain, get details, find out where he wants the campaign set, what type of game he is wanting to run. What books he will be allowing for creation. Needless to say, the GM's are often cagey about details. At this point you can do several things:

First, try to get the GM drunk or partaking his drug of preference. Then try pumping him again. Everyone knows that GM's and players usually can't resist telling you about their "great idea."

If that still fails, then usually a phone call from a loved one you have stashed away somewhere, detailing all the horrible things that will happen to them if he doesn't spill the beans will do the trick.

Finally, failing that, you can attempt torture and intimidation on the GM.

If none of this gains you more info then you need to go to step two.

Step 2: Persona

Figure out who you want to run. Have you had an idea plinking around in there? Maybe you saw a movie character that impressed you, or maybe you created an NPC in one of your games that you would like to flesh out more. It's helpful to find out if anyone else has already chosen character types. See if there is a hole that needs filled or augmented. (Be careful tho' I have been and have seen too many players screwed by creating characters that "partner up" with other PC's. Invaribley the partnership breaks down and if you don't have a rounded, stand alone guy when that happens, you get hosed.) Avoid major overlap.

When you come up with a "type"... an archetype, then decide how you want to play this guy. Figure out a bit of a personality. Is he basically good, or evil or grey and how much? Is he driven or mercenary or blase'? I find this always helpful before I start chunking numbers around or creating stats. I try to figure out who he is first. Once I have a personality, I start thinking about his background. I try to be loose. This may get amended a bit or evolve as I am allocating resources, but my end product usually is close to where I started.

Step 3: Attributes

Start allocating those points. I start with Attributes. Why? Becasue I know several things about my character right off the bat. I know if he is magic or not. I know what type of magic. I know his race (that gets figured out in step 2 usually) Now, I have read other's viewpoints on this, but personally I nearly always spend every point allowed on Attributes in a regular 400 point build. I then look and see if he needs more and peruse the Negative qualities. I might toss in a +5 of some type, always trying to vary it from any other character I have played. I try to pick something that works with his personality or concept that I have already thought about. I mentally try to be aware of major attribute enhancing cyberware I plan on including and allow for that in Attribute point distrubution.

Step 4: Particulars

Now, Once I have the basics of Attributes done, it depends on what type of characterI am building.

If magic, I start looking at spells or adept powers I need. I will probably pick out a Mentor spirit.

If mundane, I start looking over the cyberware, figuring out what I want.

If I have a special character that will need a lot of gear, I will set asidde a chunk of points to help pay for that gear at this point.

Once I have those few things are done, I then make up a list of Skills that this guy needs. Just the skils, no hard numbers. Once I think I have everything covered, I start applying points. I will tweak and twiddle a bit at this point and make all sorts of arbitrary decisions. Some of htem game driven, soem of them character driven. This is my min-maxing. At this point I may pick up a negative quality somewhere to add points or to add a cool hook. I may drop a skill. I may add one in. Its a haphazard process at this point. I may even go back up and fiddle with my attributes. A point moved from here to there can make a world of difference in the game but little in the persona. One hard fast rule: always...ALWAYS pick up a decent gun skill, even if it's only a specialization in Pistols(Semi-auto.) Make sure you are tossing at least 8-10 dice here(modifiers included) under most circumstances. (Of course it may be a really special build that eschews guns but other than that, get a fraggin' gun!)

I then move on to Knowledge skills. I try to pick up things that are complimentary to my active skills but always try to pick one or two that are personality related. I also try to pick up Knowledge skills that can be used in lieu of contacts. Knowing where to find a guy that deals in something is the next best thing to actually knowing the guy. I grab any languages here as well.

Step 5: The Rest of the Drek

Once I have all the tweaking and twiddling of Atts and Skills solved, bought my cyber and collected my spells and powers, I finally buy my streetgear. Typically, at this point (unless it was a real character thing and I set aside a lot of points to buy that car or the real high ticket items) I don't have tons of bucks to spend. I buy a few weapons and ammo, my armor, buy my contacts (I usually dont start out with more than two or three at fairly low levels, and always try to make them multi-purpose), pick up my special gear for my archetype and the more or less standard survival kits that every player develops mentally over time that all characters need. I might pick up a vehicle at this point, something cheap (unless I am rigging.) I pay for my lifestyle...usually Low unless my personality and character plan really cries for soemthing else. It can always be upgraded later, chummer.

Typically I don't try to buy too much of my gear at creation. I always figure that's part of the story. I am running the shadows because I don't have a lot of cash. I mean, seriously, if you had half a million nuyen worth of crap sitting around, why wouldn't you jsut sell it and pick up a good fake sin or two and retire or go quasi-legit? I, instead, depend on the game sessions and time and experience to provide my goodies. I am going to steal stuff. I will take runs to buy stuff or barter for items from a fixer by doing a job. My plan: My character keeps improving, my contacts improve as I deal and barter and watch out for their asses, I get street cred and I make more and more nuyen. At least, that's the plan. Not everything always works out that way, eh, chummer? *L* Besides, it's easier to aquire possessions later if you spent your points on skills and attributes and powers.

Step 6: Write your Biography

By this point you have a character. You started off with a plan and a persona. It's been tweaked and twiddled. During all that you were thinking about his guy, who he is, why he is and what he wants. It's easy to write because you already have it 90% done in your head. So, you write a page or two on his background. During that time you might think of something and will go back and make a minor change to every thing you did before, but it's usually minor and fairly rare (in my experience.)

Step 7: Submit For Approval

Submit this creative masterpiece that you have spent a couple hours to a couple days worth of time on to your GM for approval. Take time to explain the character. Show him off. Be proud. Make changes that the GM might want to make grudgingly, but make a show of being a team player. And then be prepared to cry when he tells you that he likes it and that he'll probably be starting up his campaign soon. "How soon," you'll ask? "Oh," he'll wave his hand dismissively," When I get my background stuff all done. Maybe in a couple months. I have this (fill in the blank) thing coming up so, I am not sure how soon really."

Step 8: Clean Up
Go to a payphone and call your gamer buddies. Explain, without using names, that you will need a large van or truck to transport the body you are going to dump and see if they can get the other regulars to help carry it and clean the house. Pizza and beer is on you! When they show up to help, mention that you have this idea for a really cool campaign you are starting up. That you aren't sure of all the details, but you have a great NPC that you want to base it around. Tell them they should think about getting some characters started up.

Vlad

from time to time, from behind *snickers*
nah, it's not a fixed way with me, i just start with whatever i think would be neato in SR3 and do the rest around that . .
if i think that and that would be some cool connection, i flesh out the connection first and then think about how the character in question would know said connection.
if he gets to have that toy i think about what unlikely way of getting it happened to him and so on ^^

Heh, i did a whole 'how too' blog for the uninitatiated about this where i made a character for SR4, numbers and all.

Usually, i start with(keep in mind for one or twoshots this is less, and sometimes i just pull a character out of my rear and they end up being cool, and other times i do this long method and end up not liking them so much at hte end and going back halfway and changing stuff or scrapping the whole thing. With this in depth method, i can usually catch those 'hmm..this might not be what i want'' near the start.)

1. Concept and Basic Appearance. What do i want? This part is real basic for me, like ''gunbunny or melee sam, sam with a little bit of both'' ''old detective, not much or no cyber'' ''combat mage''. I then think about the basic framework of their personality. Are they a bit cocky, sarcastic and brash? Good looking/Average Looking/Scary as Hell looking? young, old, or in between? Calm and collected? Have a generally good attitude but hide some things with a smile? I start figuring a basic look for the character out here too, be it 100% original or borrow a few cool things from characters i like(say i read a book and one of the characters I liked had a green mohawk and another guy had a triple-bladed axe for an example. Maybe ill use both of these in appearance. I don't like to lift backgrounds and stuff, but lifting some aspects of looks i dont mind doing at all and i don't mind that others do.. Maybe the character is a huge fan of old-school flatvid movies and loves Dirty Harry and got the gun and the coat or was a huge fan of Conan the Barbarian and grew his hair into a mullet and dyed it. ) This is also where i start thinking of attributes(what's most important for their job?) In the end, i see if i want some original concept, a mixed concept, or something basic, non-nonsense and classic, like ''kickass sam?''

2. Technical stuff seeping in. With ''what attributes and skills go with their job'' should also be ''what stuff fits them too?'' Did their attributes form what they became, or did what they became form their attributes? Maybe the character had to get some emergency cyber and was originally a brain; this could explain the Sammie with logic 5. He wasn't always planning to be like this. Likewise, there's nothing wrong with a mage with high Body and Strength, maybe the dude was heavy into sports as a kid and then found out he was magically active. Here i start to make bulletpoints about background bits and also skills here too; what are the biggie skills i might want? I jot down names but i don't put numbers. I also try to get a few other personality frameworks out here too.

3. More background: were they 'born to be a runner?'' or did they fall into it, or were they forced into it? Might affect their skill and attribute placement. I then place the attributes; to me those aren't so tough. I can always switch them later.

4. Qualities. I think about Positive and Negative qualities. I think about how they might have formed their personality-or how their personality formed the quality(are they addictive types? Maybe they have a couple monkeys on their back, for example. Are they Scorched? Maybe their old addictive personalities sent them into BTL land where they burned themselves a bit but cleaned up. Are they slick and stylish? I look at some possible social edges. Sometimes looking at qualities and descriptions gives me ideas for backstory/basic bulletpoints that i jot down.

5. I assign the other BPs out to basically how i want them. Like, X for Resources, X for Contacts, X for Skills. I can switch them up however. Here is where i can go differently. Sometimes with a cybered character ill pick out cyberware first. This is because skills are more important, and i want to make sure i have most of the ware i want and don't want to cut into my skills too much. I start thinking why they have certain ware and make bulletpoints once again. Are there any pieces of ware that are particularly important or have a good story, or is it all ''going through the motions of what i have to do to stay alive?''

6. Now, skills. Again, i think about which skills helped form the character, and what skills the character helped form. I tend to jot down their ''big'' 2-3 skills if they have that many(or even big 1, or medium 1-2 depending on concept, we play a midlevel game so it's usually a big 2-3), and assign the points i want; i then start writing down their secondary skills(making more bulletpoints as i go along), and then a small rounding. If i have to take a few points from resources or contacts to help here, i do...likewise, if i need to sacrifice a specialization here or there for a little extra Resources or Contacts i can do that too.

7. Gear and contacts. Is there any gear they've had for a long time? a few more bulletpoints, perhaps a couple of personalized pieces of gear, and a little story how they met their contacts. I then write it all up, and give a page(not even a page) of 7-10 bulletpoints discussing important parts of their background, personality, and basic appearance, and give it to the GM!

8. I go here though; for myself(and our GMs like to read these too..they aren't necessary but they are fun), i write a longer background; sometimes from the PoV of the character, sometimes from the friend of the character. This helps ME get into the character's head. Sometimes at this point i find i can't get into their heads, and end up changing things, scrapping some things, taking others...sometimes it's minor changes, like noticing ''wow, they went through alot, maybe a higher Willpower would be more in effect''. I hand this to the GM if they want to read it too, it might have some plot points they can use later.

Yeah, im one of those in depth people(when it comes to long campaigns, anyway). I can make a couple-sentence writeup and have em be fun as hell too, though.

First of all I come up with a role that I want my PC to fulfill. Or a game mechanic that I want to use. Usually both since the rule/s that I want to use fits into the role I want my PC to fulfill.

Then I crunch the numbers. I put in the BPs necessary to make use of the game mechanic, I make sure that I have a goodly sized dice pool(12 or more) for that. Then I mentally walk my PC through the things that I see him having to do during the course of a run. I make sure my PC has a decent dice pool(8 to 9) for those actions.

Next, I color in the Knowledge Skills. What knowledge skills would fit the role I want my PC to fill? Then I use the stats of my PC to write the background. What backgrounds can produce such a skill set? Attributes can be quite easy, you are born with it, but it can show in the background through the ease of which the PC uses the associated skills.

Then I go through the character background like a counterintelligence officer looking for a deep cover mole, any inconsistencies, anything that doesn't fit, I polish and massage the stats and background until they do. But I do not attempt to make it all fit perfectly because I grow suspicious when something is too perfect. If I have a prefect background story, I rough it up so that some details don't fit in perfectly. Often this is done in conjunction with the next stage.

Lastly, I go through the background for hooks the GM can use. Then I edit them out(unless I have some obscure background insurance/little known game mechanic to use against that particular hook). I go through the background once again to make sure that the background fits, though not perfectly.

These are general rules that I use when I make a character and do not have to deal with Shadowrun per se.

I usually hear that a GM is starting up a campaign. They tell a little bit about what kind of campaign is in question. He or she elaborates what the campaign entails, what types of characters are being asked for.

Johnny GM, anounces he is starting a Shadowrun campaign in Japan. PCs are a street racer crew in Tokyo, big money, fast thrills, and modded out cars.

I find a copy of Tokyo Drift and Initial D, the local library yields a copy of Muscle Car magazine where they focus on concept cars in Asia and Japan and a book called Bosozuku Bikers. A little bit of searching finds neat pictures of people and cars in Japan. I read up on Shadowrun in Japan, coming to Dumpshock asking if there is any further knowledge on vehicle modding and on Japan.

With this all in my head I can start coming up with character concepts. The genre dictates that characters have little personal history and little if no future prospects. Bored rich kid, disgraced cop driver, teenage girlfriend, famous drifter (drifting being a driving method) from Hong Kong, stupid American gaijin, teenage kid with a knack for driving, and the yakuza tough guy.

Racial stuff is pretty much flavor. The American to emphasize size could be a troll, teenage girl friend could have gone with neko modifications, and the yakuza tough guy could be an orc with modifications to look more devil than human. This is ultimately unnecessary information since they could be discarded in the next phase.

Character concepts are ideas of characters, they exist and fit into that world, they could be born, live and die in that world. They also fit the idea of the campaign.
I come up with one to five character concepts and starting off with the strongest I ask if this one is of interest to the GM. Usually it is, sometimes it is not and then I start going through the list. Sometimes I have start all over with new character concepts.

An important aspect with a successful character concept is one which not only meshes with the world, but gives multiple plothook possibilities to the GM and to myself. Without those plothooks it is a boring character. This gives the character a more multifaceted approach, it also shows which characters are also uninteresting to play. It would also be good to find out what characters are being played and what positions are open. It is no use that there is another driver if everyone else is playing drivers.

Bored rich kid, expensive jaded tastes, dad is a corp. head, he could wipe his ass with a monthly paycheck if it did not get paper cuts. Very little if no plothooks outside of saving dad for the umpteenth time, also the character could retire at any point. Nothing there to keep him hungry for more.

Disgraced cop driver, cops hate him, he hates cops, people hate cops whether ex or not. Lots of possible plothooks from criminals to former police buddies. Maybe he is actually undercover, tying in with a larger plothook or then can lead into adventures beyond Japan as well. Lots of contacts can be whimpy or strong depending on the other player characters.

Teenage girlfriend, unless this involves filing nails, exchanging hair coloring tips, or working in a soapland, this is ultimately a boring character unless the game itself also work inside of a high-school and even then it does not fit the concept of Shadowrun. Unless the GM really wants anime influences and a character who hides for combat, this character would otherwise be a pass.

Famous drifter from Hong Kong, what is his past?, added aspects of racism, What brought him to Tokyo? Maybe he has a more special car. He does not speak of his past (allows for future character hooks to be placed on him as time progresses as more history is revealed).

Stupid american gaijin. Genre dictates that there should be one in the group or then all. He ends up beating the Japanese at their own game and can return home triumphant. Personally I dislike the idea unless you really want to bring in a concept car just because and all sorts of culture clashes. However, after the tenth culture clash it may become a boring character to play.

Teenage kid with a knack for driving unless this is really more anime then Shadowrun this chaarcter is not only stupid and whiny, he is a boring character that I would hate to play.

Yakuza tough guy is like the disgraced cop driver and could as well be the disgraced cop driver. Lots of options and possibilities, but the same issues.

Once the character concept is chosen it goes through more of a refinement process, history, current situation, future prospects. Then starts filling in teh character sheet to best fill out how the character fits the genre. Very rarely are such characters optimized in any way.

I usually write afterwards a major tuning points storyline on why the character is where it is.

First I come up with an idea. My newest creation is an Ex-Lone Star Forensics Mage, disillusioned with working for police as run by the corps. He took advantage of losing his SIN in the Crash to head off to a new city and start up a PI gig.

After that, I do Qualities. At least the Positive ones I know I will need. Like, in this case, Magician. Then I dive right into my stats. I usually spend the max allowed on those, then buy up some Edge (usually 3 or 4 is my magic number) and Magic/Resonance stat.

After that, I go into skills. This is usually where a ton of my points go. Like 150+. I have to use Negative Qualities to get points to spend on money 9 times out of 10 0_0.

Then I do Spells/Complex Forms if applicable. Again, I usually spend the max allowed. This sometimes results in me canning skills I don't really need. Which makes me die on the inside a little

After that I buy my points for Gear. I don't usually spend the money yet, I just set it aside.

Then I decide on Contacts. Do I want a ton of Contacts with low ratings, or a couple with High ratings? (Usually I ask myself if I see the character picking up the tab at a lunch meeting, if so, I buy cheapies )

Then I buy my stuff, shaving points off here and there if I need extra things.

After that, I bullet point up an outline background. Finer details usually come to me as I play the character more and become more familiar with them.

Personally, I usually start with a single concept and start building around that. Sometimes it's a character concept ("a member of the Yakuza who isn't of Japanese descent"), and sometimes it's a mechanic ("an SR2 character with the highest possible Initiative"). Then, certain details naturally follow and are added to the character (following the examples above, how did the Yakuza get where he is in such a racist organization? What kind of personality would cause a person to strive to be really really quick?) After that, I find that building the character is much like building a CCG deck: it's all about ruthlessly excluding everything that doesn't fit with the concept (he's unlikely to have metahuman contacts, a Harley Scorpion is a good combat bike but he's more likely to want a racing bike).

You and me both. Character creation for me is like pulling teeth.

part of my problem is I tend to develop characters over the long haul so popping a full idea in my head at the beginning is weird. well one I like anyway.

Heh, I too tend to agonize over PCs when it comes to gear, background and other fine details, which is why I'm finding I'm better suited to GMing than being a player in some ways. My method lets me easily determine what I want a character to be good at and what tools I need to get it there, so I can quickly and easily build NPCs and Prime Runners that suit my needs without letting my fussiness get in the way so much. I'm lightning fast at building up a set of numbers that can match a concept once it's been described to me, but first you have to come up with a concept to begin with.

Heh, skills are my weakness, i think(Mentioning Betaflame's skill number). I always end up overspending on Skills, and picking up stuff that ''well, it COULD fit the character''. In the end after i end up doing some personality fleshing with some background i usually end up canning a few. I do like to have a handful of 1s/1(+2)s/2s mixed in there with my 4s and 5s though. I don't like making a character with flat 5s and 4s and not much else. And sometimes it takes me awhile to be more satisified.

Case in point; my current sam who is mainly melee(4+2 blades and 5+2 unarmed, hes studied hand to hand way longer); but is running a 3(+2) Pistols, and a 2(+2) Longarms and Automatics(Semi-Auto, Shotguns, and Submachine Guns). Now, his Agility is pretty scary so its not a matter of being useless; but im just wondering if these numbers are right. Is there any type of gun i see him with more(of the last two, his Pistols i definately see as the highest), or can i even lower one to add to another skill(Shadowing, hes good at watching his back having a small paranoid streak), or...argh! Yeah, i too sometimes take forever to get satisified. It's weird, i do minmax a bit, and even like it to a point but i dont like to overdo it. And i always wonder if i am overdoing it wondering about skill points. Im not even concerned as much how high or low his gun skills though im just trying to see what i picture him the most with. These are the little things i agonize over. Skills are definately my kryptonite. It's not the 2-3 specialist skills that torture me, its all those other neat fill-ins. This is due to me not wanting to be too good at everything, but wanting to be good at more than my ''skillz that pays da billz'', the 3 skills i usually have around 5+2 and 4+2.

My PI Mage's Skills, Just to prove a point:

The number is how many rank i bought

Assensing (Signature Reading) 2(+2)
Firearms Group 3
Binding 2
Clubs 1
Sorcery Group 4
Data Search 1
Etiquette 1
Gymnastics 2
Infiltration 1
Perception 6 (Aptitude is here too, so I will buy this up to 7 eventually)
Pilot Ground craft 1
Shadowing 2
Summoning 2

Now, it isnt as bad as it looks, since most of my skills at Agility Int and Logic based and those are my highest stats (4, 5 and 5 respectively). So at minimum I am throwing 4 dice for stuff that really isnt his specialty (Etiquette) and 11 dice for things that I want to excel at (Perception). He's not much of a summoner is my only real complaint about him (7 dice), but he isnt bad at spellcasting (9 dice) and not half bad with a gun (7 dice with all of them)

Keep in mind those dice numbers are without equipment mods. Visually, he had 14 dice for Perception, same with audio.

I usually start out with a concept, then compare the concept to the game system to see if they are compatible. In SR4, for example, you can usually have one broad schtick (such as magery or hacking) with decent supporting skills, or two complementary specialties (street sam who is good at break-in, street sam who is a good field medic, adept detective who is good at investigative and face skills). If you go straight from concept to implementation without any deference to the actual mechanics of the game, you can wind up with a character who is frustrating to play. Both because they won't be effective in the game, and because you won't be able to translate your idea of the character on to the character sheet.

Then it's time to stat the character out. One approach that works for me is to start out with everything I would like the character to have, not worrying about points, then pare it down to the essentials. But by essentials, I don't mean "capable of doing the character's main function and nothing else". I need some extra points for fun stuff, so that the character isn't just a generic ass-kicker. For example, if it's a throwing adept guy, maybe I'll give him Artisan/woodcarving: 1/+2 and Palming/Legerdemain: 3/+2.

After I've roughed out the stats, I start working on a more detailed background, and then adjust the stats as the background flows. Maybe I realize this guy would only see commlinks as a necessary evil, so I change his commlink to a cheap one with a skinlink and lose the stuff like VR games. Maybe the monofilament whip becomes a shock glove, because this guy would rather incapacitate than kill. Maybe I decide that, for a wired-up speed sammie, a mild addiction to stimulants makes more sense than the scorched flaw. Usually the changes are minor, but sometimes I will find that the core concept has changed, and the stats need a major overhaul.

The background and stats bounce off of each other until they mesh - all of the character's stats are explained, along with why this person became a runner, and why he chooses to run the shadows. It's creative writing, but to me, it's more focused than a story. If the major events that led to the character becoming a runner happened when he was a teen, then his earlier childhood will be a few sentences at most - "Bobby's early childhood was spent in the Ares arcoplex, insulated from the turmoil roiling across the rest of the world. When he was 9, they were reassigned to Portland, where Bobby was bullied by the mostly-elven kids there. At 14, he began his own internship as an Ares security trainee, when..."

I'll usually run mine from very basic concept around the character type, or a personality I want to play out. From there, I build out the character until it's ready. Race, Attributes, Skills, Resources/gear/ware/spells, Contacts, in that order. I'm a weirdo in that I'll build characters for fun, just to see what I come up with. These days, I'm really streamlined and can put together a full SR4 character in 15-30 mins unless I'm really being picky. Once the stats and concept are nailed down, I'll usually write up a short background to get him to the game start point, and so I flesh him out just a little more.

I always play clerics, healers, corpsman, formers corpsman street doc, street docs, etc in every game system so the character sheet really write itself

But seriously, I'm firmly in the "Cool Idea First", usually an occupation or a game mechanic, camp. I like generalists so I usually pick one or two attributes (Intuition, logic, etc) and peg those at a comfortably high level, after that I skip to the skills section and start writing down every single skill I think my guy would know and be any good at. I usually force myself to pick at least one 'useless" skill that represents what my character does between shooting people and stealing shit. After that I go back and sketch in attributes and than it's a matter of spending a lot of time massaging the stats until they look right.

Lately I've been taking characters from books/TV shows/movies an playing "What If" games with them?

For example, one of my most recent characters I took Bean from Ender's Shadow, and asked myself what would happen if he never did get off the street? What if the chronic malnutrition did start to affect his mind, so rather than being the perfect genemodded brain he became in the book he instead beacme a brilliant, but tragically flawed survivalist?

From there I usually follow the "qualities and skills first" method, as many others seem to above, also reserving 200 total points for attributes.

The things I always have a hard time with, though, is names and callsigns. I'm horrible at naming characters; anyone have any good ways to get that chore over with?

Name websites. Depending on their nationality, you can find tons of names by plugging in ''[Gender] Names [Nationality]'' into Google. Street names i have more difficulty with; here im not shy about taking something that just sounds cool. A few examples: a character named Ville became just 'Vil', and pronounced very american, since they had trouble prouncing Ville the proper Finnish way. Aku(another Finn), became 'Ankka', because Aku Ankka is the name of Donald Duck in Finnish. (Yes, Ankka means Duck. )

Alex Stefansson became Magus, even though he has no magical ability whatsoever, because his OTHER fake ID name is Magnus, an Icelandic name(he's half Icelandic).

a thoroughly American ork was Shiv. He's a ganger. Really, i just start thinking of items/nicknames/game names/comic names(my buddy's decker Icman, for example), and see what happens.

When I think of street names, I try to remember that they are like nicknames - some are ones the character came up with, some are ones the character got stuck with. Like some post, a good while back, when someone talked about a sammie who got bitchslapped through a window by a dragon, and after that incident everyone called him "Dragonslayer". Or maybe a mage tries to dress impressively but has no fashion sense whatsoever, and everyone calls him "Pimp Daddy". That's the most fun part of a street name, to me... coming up with the story of how the character got that name. Even cool street names can have a good story. Maybe the sammie is called "Fearless" because of how he made five Spikes back down from him, and he's the only one who knows that he had to go home and change his underwear after that encounter. I don't have a cool story for every street name, but I try to fit it to either the character's job or an aspect of the character's personality.

I usually start on one item that caught my eye and build the character from there. Why would she have it? Why does she like it. What sort of person would have it.

My first real character started with hand razors. I saw them in the book and thought why would someone have those instead of a spur that does more damage? She would have to be a real psycho. Someone who gets off on close action and wants to hurt more than kill. Then I thought that she is vain. not only in her ability to do that and enjoy it but she's got nails that aren't going to chip or crack, the replacing sheaths. So she is going to take care of her looks. not shabby and not baggy military but eye catching but functional. she is also gonig to need a way to close the distance with opponents so she can use the razors. So she gets wired reflexes and toned and augmented flesh for more hits. What grew from there was a read mental case. deadly , cold, ruthless, a great person for a run and blood shed but not someone you want to hang with because you wonder if she is going to snap.

Another was a pony tail. What kind of a runner would have a pony tail? It is easy to do and keeps the hair back so she is going to not be a fashion plate but she does want to be able to show she's a girl and femine so she avoids a buzz cut. The pony tail can be threaded through the loop at the back of a cap. This translated to become a tom boy in a sports bar hang out. Shorts and a team jersey, smeared with a little dirt and oil and suddenly she was a rigger. Laid back, can shoot but does not like to. Is ok with a brawl. and her gear on cyber all flowed from that.

When I first saw my character in The Ancients game I am playing here on DS, with Critias, Fist, Fortune, and Callidus, Haven was speeding down the city streets wearing matte gray full combat biking armor in the middle of the night being chased by a quintet of Spikes. Driving a bike he had tooled and retooled within an inch of it's life to be a pure speed machine and still combat capable, Haven was weaving in and out of their lines of fire with bullets spanging off his bikes armor. Leading the larger, heavier, slower Growlers but never pulling fully away, Haven sends commands through the skinlink which keeps him in constant contact with his bike and as he hits a long straightaway has it maintain speed and course and flips himself around in his seat to face the Spikes directly. Pulling a shotgun so heavily modified as to be unrecognizable to it's original form, he opens up with suppressive fire, sheeting the Spikes with flechettes and bleeding them all slightly. Seeing the fight turn against them, a Spike with a bike more heavily modified than the others begins to pull away from his allies and close the distance. Haven, his mouth fixed into the rictus of a manic grin, pulls an oddly shaped pipe from his jacket. Ripping the cover off of the CleenTac on one end, Haven chunks the explosive at the Spike, hate and joy warring for prominence with insanity in his eyes. Landing with a loud *thunk* and affixing itself to the front bumper of the vehicle, the explosive is mounted right above the front wheel well, and as the Spike leans desperately forward trying to reach it and knock it off, Haven pulls the detonator from a pocket on the combat biker pants and kicks up the acceleration on his bike. Triggering the explosion, he watches with undisguised glee as the Spike it front is catapulted headfirst into a building and splatters. The rest of the Spikes fair little to no better, as they are either caught in the explosion or pushed out of control by the shockwav and crash into various buildings and light poles, one impaling himself ironically on a parking meter. Manic glee causing his eyes to gleam in the night as he broadcasts the whole scene back to the Ancients at the Squat, Haven's insane joyful laughter is whipped away by the wind as he rides off into the night.

So, I guess I could say I start with a scene, and work from there making sure to fit the ability to pull off that scene into the character. For Haven, the big thing was the mechanics, demolitions, chemistry, and gun/armor smithing knowledge plus having the ability to fight like a crazy bitch while riding. It took forever to fine tune and fit it all into the same character.

Chris

Did I kill this thread? I thought it was interesting.

Chris