Alright, my group is essentially playing 2e. 2055-58ish time period. One of our group has decided he wants to run a long-ish term campaign. I don't have any good ideas for a character though. I just finished making a rigger for a different game, and I've pretty much played out mote regular archetypes. So, does anyone have any ideas to help me out? I need something that is decent, becuase he runs pretty tough campaigns, and I'd prefer to not just die every other run, but if I have a concept I can probably work the numbers.

I'm just fresh out of ideas since I spent the last week and a half working on my rigger. So, go (semi) wild. I need help here!


~ C

If its going to be a tough campaign, then I would suggest a character with a Special Forces background, for an elite street sam. Maybe a former Sioux Wildcat operative. Or a UCAS Green Beret or Army Ranger. Depending on the background, you could probably specialize in infiltration, or demolitions, or some other special niche skill that will come in real handy for the campaign. My other suggestion might be a mercenary, who has been involved in the border dispute between Tir Tangire and Northern Free Cal. Or a mercenary who has been involved in skirmishes between the Ute and Pueblo. There's lots of posssibilities for good backgrounds when thinking about all the conflicts in North America around that time.

Yeah, that could work. Nightshade (the quote below) was from Amazonia and involved in their military, beating up on the azzies. He was a pretty fun character (physical adept). And the rigger that I mentioned was a smuggler between Seattle and Cal Free for some revolutionaries there.

See, I dunno if I just want to play a Sammy though. I need good motivations and goals. Other than "have the latest ware" I can't ever think of good stuff for sammies. Obviously there are a million ways to make them, but they seem overdone. I will keep the Wildcat op in mind though, that sounds like a good back story. The Wildcats are pretty sweet. (And not just becuase I once played a character loosely based on Grifter )

Rockers are always good fun!

Or a simsense star who wants to get some real life experience.

Combat Wombat!

Er...

Combat Medic/Doctor! Big brain equals lots of different knowskills, eliminates the need for your team to visit a shady street doc, gives you a long term goal (get clinic), organ legging for fun and profit, lets you do something cool in addition to shooting things (medicine+medical shop+interrogation=talkative prisoners). If you really want to diversify can give him a background in magic, parazoology, or my personal favorite: Forensics. If you take enough forensics you get a bonus to making a witty droll quip while donning sunglasses.

You can go the traditional "Former UCAS Navy Corspman" or "3rd year medical student who realized he made more money in the shadows than working for some crappy corps clinic. or "Disgraced County Coroner/Doctor barred from practicing medicine legally." or even "Former Corps researcher on the run for X but with an depth knowledge of Y".

It's been awhile since I've played 2e but I'm pretty sure you can balance having high non combat skills in addition to getting enough augs to keep you in the fight until you can upgrade to some serious wires or something.

Sample Character Archive
forum link

a Bunraku parlor girl who escaped?

WMS

I am a big fan of explicitly collaborative story telling. If this a long campaign, I think it's fair to talk with your GM about vague type of situations, and challenges and settings they plan on touching on. From there think up interesting an fun ways to approach that situation.

Go Wild?

If it's a campaign with any sort of humor, an ex-model turned assassin(al la Derek Zoolander), very low Logic, high Charisma, decent physical stats with the skills Breakdance Fighting and Exotic Ranged Weapon: Laser Feet. He spins on his hands and sends fires the laser feet around the room a la a Wide Burst.

Yes, i WILL make Laser Feet a viable weapon one day as i mentioned in the the other thread....

Now, if the campaign is more serious or whatnot...near cyberzombies are always fun. (i've been in the wings highly awaiting Metal Gear Solid 4 and watching the preview videos so right now my answer to everything is 'cyberkillerninjadude.' )

blargh, i'll get back to you when i get my creativitiy back. I just got done finishing up my own guy for a campaign, am writing a two or three shot to play in a couple of months, and did an SR short story on top of it as a prelude to said two or three shot so my creativity is a bit focused.

Orc Marine!!! ... but that's just because it's just my kind of charachter. Make sure to start low on gear (just starting off right?) and put skills as your nr. 1 priority. It makes for a very decent and versatile character and if you're really up for the challenge try to avoid any cyber (yes I know it's tempting, but laser sights are a great substitue for smartlinks).

Oh... and make sure your charachter has small unit tactics . It makes up a little for the lack of any decent reaction enhancers. Secondly, try to talk your gm to use the strength/recoil copensation rules from Fields of Fire... it will give you that extra point of recoil compensation to put of a burst with low-tech weaponry

Well, you can have smartlink without cybering up anyway.

If your playing SR2-3 and fancy a challenge play a combat decker without a deck. I know it sound bad but the back story is you old deck got scorched and now you have fallen back on your combat skills to make the money for a new deck.
With a sympathic ref, you work up the ranks of deckerdom from a abacus to karftwert hell to a fairlight if your play long enough.
Hardest part is the utilites, you can off set this slightly by buying some of your utilities out of the box at generation for when you get a deck. Programing helps too.

Nah, non-cyber smartlinks are as good as any laser sight (they merely provide a -1 tn bonus).

But as a general rule of thumb you could state that especially in a long campaign it's more rewarding to play a character with a lot of room for development.

Well yeah, I definitely agree with that. One of my friends might be playing a mage, and another is probably playing a physical adept. If the one doesn't end up playing a mage (he has character ADD ) then i was kind of thinking of playing a mage who doesn't know he's a mage and therefore won't start with any magical skills or spells or anything. I think it would be a fun character who would basically be the "dude with no cyber" mentioned, but would be able to grow substantially.

But I don't want to do that if the group already has two other magically active people. Because 3 out of 4 or 5 is a bit high, and I don't think it's specifically (though I'm sure it could be) a high magic campaign. So I don't want to go overboard.

I once built what I thought was going to be a completely fun 3rd Ed. character for a campaign a friend was going to run.

So, he was a German linage dwarf vigilante. I was basically going to play him like a low-rent Batman. I tricked him out with all sorts of mechanical gear, made him a Mage for the spells. and was going to basically ignore using guns. At least lethal ones. He was gonna be a "good guy" that operated in the shadows and only did Robinhood-esque missions. I worked him up to sort of be living in his own world. Not completely nuts, jsut absolutely convinced that he was a force for good and was trying to save the little people. Took a cop contact and a mechanic contact. Was going to have him get a low-lifestyle where he operated right on the fringe of hte Ork-underground in a basement attached to some tunnels that over time he was going to build up into his own BatCave.

I was going to call him something like NightWing (and was going to fly by using levitate and some sort of propellent system) and it translated into something like Nacht...something.

Needless to say, after hours of work and a couple days of dreaming the guy up, my friend moved out of town on the spur of hte moment and I never got to play him.

Vlad

>_< Yeah, I know the feeling. I usually spend a week or two setting up back story, getting the numbers just right to fit everything, drawing pictures... And then we don't play. One time I wrote up a whole culture for my character (a group of Nightones out in the forest in Germany). The rigger I just finished has 8 pages of printed character sheet with an additional 2 pages of drawings. It seems that the only time we ever actually play for a long time is when I just write down some numbers on a scrap of paper right before the first session. It's getting annoying. I don't like making characters anymore because of it. I spend so much time and energy on them and then they get filed away in the "Really sweet characters who never amounted to anything" section.

Yes I know the feeling about creating long and detailed back stories.

I have even gotten to play some characters with such, just no other character inquired/asked, so it never came in the game.

Do like I do, I have a large stable of characters I have created with detailed back stories, I just hold onto them, and I have been able to use them. I have been able to submit a character in less then the other players have many times.

WMS

pick a character from a book, movie or whatever and base a character conecpt off of that. I'm not saying "hey make batman" or "hey make John McClain" just pick an idea and base something similar off of it, like a jumping off point.

Another Idea is pick a song and make a character based off of what you get from the lyrics/story/music.

These are both awesome ideas. Ive been influenced by many a good movie, book, game, or song. They can indeed be great springboards. Again, you don't have to BE the character in question, but sometimes taking a couple bits from Character A, a couple bits from B, one from C, and then whip the majority together yourself, it can work wonders.

I think it might make be a bad roleplayer but I usually just have a general idea (one sentence concept, 2-3 keypoints, motivation) when I jump into the game (I too have tasted the bitter juice that is "Actually, I think we're going to play some World of Darkness instead"). If the game looks like it's going to go for more than a session I'll sit down and hammer out the details.

Of course I almost uniformly play a medic/doctor/cleric/healer with a variation into the land of "science/knowledge" guy so it'd be a lie to say that I don't recycle some tropes.

Awesome idea

A combat face is usually a lot of fun to play. Just enough 'ware to keep your reaction times up, and the rest on the skills and contacts you need.

If you get Alpha (or Beta, if your GM allows it) at char creation, you have a shot at keeping your cyber concealed from most casual checks, which should give you the social mobility you need for your profession.

If you DO end up wanting to play an awakened char, you can pretty much do the same thing for an adept. Just be sure to get masking fairly soon.

I'm working on a hilarious concept - basically, her job is "decoy". Felicity

Haha, great concept!

lol, nice.

And yeah, I've been toying with the idea of a face. But i definately need to do something other than just faceing (yeah it's a word, even if spell check doesn't believe me ) Combat is fine, everyone should have at least SOME way to defend in a fight. maybe I'll make him aspire to be a decker or something... I could eventually get a VCR and some Drive and Gunnery skillchips.

Or thought it's SR2, I can probably get him to let me take some of the Social Adept powers. That could be pretty cool. Cybered Physad Face.

I think you overspent on positive qualities and the character seems a bit frail. Basically, you're banking on Gymnastic Dodge to keep her alive?

As an author, I hate to give away ideas that I might use in a book someday, but here's a few SR character concepts I've been toying with recently:

Bad News Johnny

A shotgun-toting, harley-driving, troll private eye, who has both the best and worst luck on the planet, and tends to solve his cases more the Marv way (from Sin City) than the Sam Spade way.

I statted him up in SR4 as having Edge 5 and the Unlucky quality, so usually things go great and he's the luckiest sonofabitch in the sprawl--but when things mess up they mess up big, and he ends up having to use the rest of his luck just to survive. Not sure if that would translate to 2e though.

I know Edge 5 isn't technically "the best luck on the planet", but pushing it any higher would add a little too much guaranteed pooch-screw to those 1-in-6 Bad Luck rolls.

Tetsu

With this guy, I'll just copy the description and history, rather than trying to paraphrase.

-DESCRIPTION-

The great-grandson of 20th-century artist Tetsuo Ishida, Tetsuryu is ironically much more traditional than his ancestor. An expert swordsman trained in the traditional arts and philosophies of Japan, he holds an intense dislike for those who refer to cybered thugs and assasins as "Samurai."

Stern, loyal, and incredibly skilled, Tetsu is a firm ally and a horrible enemy. He prides himself on being a "real" Samurai in a sea of pretenders, and will not hesitate to cut down any razorboy who challenges him. That isn't to say he's biased against cyberware users, nor is he blind to his own failings. Tetsu merely recognizes that it takes more than a blade and a sense of honor to be a Samurai, and struggles to live up to that ideal in a world where everyone is stained by deception and wickedness.

-BACKGROUND-

Born in Osaka, Tetsu was trained from a very young age by an old master of the martial arts, Ryoko Ichihara. At his gempukku, the traditional Japanese coming of age ceremony, he defeated his primary rival, winning an enchanted sword from his master as a result. Ishida took his adult name from the sword, Tetsuryu--which means "Iron Dragon."

Tetsu's relationship with the Ichihara dojo became strained after his master's death, when her more business-oriented son took over. Tetsu also maintains a tentative connection with the school's former swordsmith, a gruff, antisocial talismonger named Jubei Hiroku.

---

Guy has a maxed out sword skill, a katana weapon focus, and skill ranks in artisan, with a focus in Haiku. Lots of grey-area moral-philisophical debates, because he beleives in the code of the samurai but as a shadowrunner he can't possibly live up to it--as opposed to street sams who think "Weapons + Morals = Samurai" despite being masterless and doing all kinds of dishonorable shit. (Like having fake SINs and illegal weapons)--plus roots issues with the dojo that trained him going all sell-out even as he tries to hold on to the traditions and beliefs he was taught there.

Hard Wire

An ex-military street sam who specializes in stealth tactics and the use of a monoflillament whip. Spent a lot of time fighting in some random (probably black op) south american conflict, where he managed to become the stoic mass of personal problems he is today. Basically Joe Pike from the Elvis Cole detective novels by Robert Crais, but with a monowhip and rappelling gloves so he can ninja-garrote you with it. If you're not familiar with the character, A: read the books, they're fucking good, and B: Insert Emotionless, highly skilled, nearly sociopathic war veteran stereotype here. Basically Rambo with Dirty Harry's personality.

And a monowhip.

That part's important, the name isn't as clever if it's just referring to his wired reflexes.

Yep! And yeah, looking at her, I think I did overspend on positive qualities. Hrm. Which is a shame; I really need all of them...

Too many qualities:
Ambidextrous 5
Double Jointed 5
First Impression 5
Human Looking 5
Exceptional Attribute: Agility 20
Aptitude: Gymnastics 10
Adept 5
Geas -10
Addiction (Moderate) -10
Scorched -10
Sensitive Neural Structure -10
Sensitive System -15
Uneducated -20

You spent 55BP out of 35 on positives, and earned 75BP out of 35BP with negatives...

You also overspent on PP:
Kinesics (6) 3 PP
Pheromone Control (3) I can't even find this...
Improved Ability: Gymnastics (3) .75 PP
Improved Ability: Con (2) .5PP
Improved Physical Attribute: Agility (2) 4PP
Enthralling Performance .5 PP
Sustenance .25 PP

That is 9 out of 6, not counting the one I can't find...

Also, hard maxing Charisma, Agility and Magic is, IMO a waste of BPs...

I find memorable individuals in the media (both fictional and real) and create characters based on the question "what would so-and-so be like in the world of Shadowrun?" And I don't do the obvious ones like John McClain or Rambo. I go for the odd. For example...

Alex P. Keaton a la Shadowrun: A young pro-big-business corporate brat turned former company man. He despises his parents pie-in-the-sky, pro-environmental stance finding it unrealistic and a waste of time. He works the shadows, not because that's where he was forced to be, but because it's where he can do what he feels REALLY needs to be done to help the corps.

Jimmy Swaggart a la Shadowrun: A famous hellfire-and-brimstone trideo pastor gets caught in a sex scandal and is booted out into the street by his congregation. He learns to survive through pure charisma, guts and determination and his end goal is to build a new church. A combination face and Christian thaumaturge.

etc. etc.

If your looking for something different, you could play a schizophrenic street sam. The thing is, each personality has specific skills. Basically make like say, three or four characters (with same set of cyber/stats, but different skills), and each having a distinct personality type, and then let the GM switch your personalities at random, or determine some type of "marker" event that causes a switch and roll randomly.

Could be hilarious. Sim-sense star / combat junky / nerdy medical doctor guy / crazy scottish explosives person.

Another slightly off the wall character could be a cyber'd guy that has a cyberlimb (or two) with experiemental AI in them that doesn't always do what they want them to do. Maybe he's not honorable, but his legs are. He'd prefer to flee, but his legs make him go rescue an innocent child in the line of fire instead. Just one idea.

Generally, for longer campaigns, I find it's actually just as much about building a very solid back story for the character as trying to make the character have growth potential. There is ALWAYS growth potential, but what makes a character in a long campaign really feel like a fun solid character is a good back story, which should include things that affect the game. Make sure your contacts are real people in the game rather than just generic. It makes everything feel more 'indepth' and makes the story the character is in feel much richer.

One last idea, taken from our own gaming session, have a Scottish clan of trolls be your "character pool". And switch your clan member that you're playing interchangably. You need to get some input from the GM to make this work, and also work how you'll spend karma so it doesn't get all watered down, but could be fun. You then need a good clan name. In ours it was "The M'Groin" clan, with such members as "Sharon", "Fealan", and "Robin" (though he pronounced it Rubbin)

My latest concept is a "reality hacker". Not a member of the Seattle gang Reality Hackers, but a mage who hacks reality. She was a prodigal hacker, but was inside during the crash, and got burned out (Scorched negative quality). After the crash, she hit puberty, and found she had the talent... but is best at magic when she's using a commlink (Geas - must be using a commlink).

So, she has hacker contacts, magical contacts, basic computer skills (but still knows enough to buff out her commlink to prevent hacking), and some Detection, Manipulation (not mental - stupid mental mages), and Illusion spells. Oh, and her tradition is Chaos.

That could be swell if the game wasn't being played in 2055

Yep, realized that.



D'oh! That was supposed to be 8 points (brought down to 6 via Geas).



Why?

25 BP per point, for a total of 75 BP can buy you a lot of other things that will help a lot more...
Hard-maxing 1 stat is not so bad, but 3 is a bit too much...
But as I said, this is just my opinion...

*nod* well, I fixed the Qualities (can buy the rest later), dropped Magic to 4, and nixed the Improved Physical Attribute - which saved me enough to get a halfway-decent Initiative of 8, and a few extra Knowledge skills. Thanks!

Hey, he's asking for Character Ideas. I don't know much about 2E, but I figure that the general concept could be applied. It's Shadowrun, so that means there's technology and magic. So, somebody who used to do technology, but now does magic? Not too big of a stretch.

A note on maximum Attributes at chargen ...

Well, crap Edited again, and thanks for the help!

Characters that "worked" for Rote Zora, Sie and Mother Earth performing bunraku parlor rescue raids, acts of Eco Terrorism and Fem Terrorism around the world.

That should give you a interesting character or three.

WMS

bunraku? Traditional Japanese Puppets?

In SR, "bunraku" are brainwashed prostitutes with cyberware that forces them to act however the client wants them to.

To address this directly: That's the primary idea, yes. Also, given Enthralling Performance and Kinesics, the idea is that people are going to be too distracted to shoot at her.