Well it is true that some GMs cut faces no slack and unless you, personally, are a face yourself your character won't be able to function as one.

Because you know the mage can actually cast spells in real life..... (It's actually a complicated area of discussion, snarky as I sounded just then).

As for decking hopefullly you're GM could give you a hand there. You just need to get all the right programs and know about what you can do (hack into cameras, peoples comlinks, all that stuff) and then have the GM help you through the mechanics until you get it.



Well any character can be RPed. Though I've got a bad feeling that your monk is just, well, a hard to use character. Specifically I worry you put all your points into being good at close combat at nothing much else. And then you find that almost all combat is decided at range. Resulting in the cowboy/sniper/mage killing everyone before you reach them OR since you're out in front charging you get cut down again and again and again.

Probably both actually. And if you aren't skilled out of combat, and aren't the leader type you may find it hard to participate, which may be a large part of your problem.

I have a player, who's a really smart kid, and in real life he can talk his ass of, problem is hes a new to role-playing games, so when we play hes kinda quiet and mostly just reactionary. So when I started Shadowrun, I made him the face so that he would be forced to be actionary, and actually talk to the other characters, and NPC's. So what do you know first session he sat there in front of the Johnson and pretty much said nothing. Heres the thing though my group of role-players are REALLY good role-players, I didn't have to do anything to get him motivated. One of my Players is a troll, and a rather Obnoxious one at that. The Troll Blew up on him in character and pretty much told him if he had to do the faces job again he was going to flat out murder him. Guess what session 2 he got better REAL fast.

He still seemed to be struggling though so I came up with my own house rule. My troop and I really don't like using Social roles, we feel its a detriment to role-playing, "why role-play when you can just use dice," so I took his previously useless Social Dice pools, and told him that anytime he needed time to think about what his character would say, in the case of a Johnson for example, and role them, however many success he got, I would give him that many minutes real time to step back and think, and the rest of my troop is ok with this, because were all on board with trying to make him a better Roleplayer.

One golden rule I've lived by in playing RPG's is that 5% of players are born role-players, 95% needed to be molded into one. Just denying them that RP Karma point is not molding them in my opinion. I don't know maybe its just me, but If I can mold a player into a better role-player it benefits everybody at the table.

Suspension of disbelief is a big issue in movies piiman. Think about your favorite movie, I'll bet its the ones that made you feel like you were IN the movie instead of just WATCHING the movie. Make sure your not selfconcious about not acting like yourself. A big part of being a successful role-player IMHO, is forgetting yourself for a few hours, put yourself in a drawer at the back of your brain, and become your character. Feel about things like he does, think like he does, act like he does, and everybody at the table be damned if you look silly doing it, because they might already be in the mindset I'm talking about, and probably won't laugh. When I GM I have to very much stay in reality because running a story is much like managing stuff, but when I'm on the other side of the table as a player,....... I go away, and become my character, The room around me goes away, and stops being a table at my house, but instead is that dirty grimy infested alley with rivulets of blood running down it from the NPC I just shot, that my GM/Storyteller just described to me.

Also piiman engage the other Players in coversation that has nothing to do with running, you need to engage with them for most people to reciprocate the gesture. Good roleplaying is not just with the NPC's, but with the other players as well.

Hope this helps

There used to be a section in the rulebooks (SR1 & 2) called 20 questions to help you flesh out characters. I've also seen various character info / background sheets over the years that help. The basic idea is the same in all of them though, a fluff sheet for your character.

Start with the basics
Age
Hair Color
Eye Color
Build
Ethnic Heritage (Troll isn't an ethnicity, Norwegian is, Norwegian Trolls can be lots of fun)

Add a few favorites
Favorite Band / Style of Music
Favorite Food
Favorite Trid Show

Family / Friends
Not contacts that you use for game purposes, but people you know that help define the character

Religious or Political Affiliations
In the Sixth World all sorts of religious groups and political parties sprouted up

Interests or Hobbies
Pick a couple, good way to pick Knowledge skills, a guide line I use is reserve at least 1/3 of your Knowledge skills for these

Pet Peeves
Everyone has little irrational things that bother them

Why does the character run the shadows?
Some do it for thrills, others for money, others for more personal reasons.

What (if anything) did the character do before running the Shadows?
Were they gainfully employed, did they lose everything in the crash of 2065, were they born on the streets and come up in a gang?

If you're feeling like you really want to add some depth to a character you can try some of these:

Does the Character do drugs? If so what is the character like when they are high?

Has the Character been raped or abused, how has this affected their world view?

Has the Character ever been in Prison?

Does the Character Drink? If so what is the Character like when drunk?

Does the Character have a psychological disorder? If so what?
I found in college this was a favorite of psychology students, and with a little research can create a very convincing character. It doesn't have to be something very extreme either.


Once you have a background worked up some other things to keep in mind for RP is to play the character in line with what you've developed. Sometimes that means doing something dangerous or stupid to stay in character. Making a habit of doing dangerous or stupid is generally considered "being a bad player" but my bias is if you do something dangerous or stupid because it's what the character would do that's doing a good job staying in character.

Going to a board I pointed him to counts as effort? I do it half of the day out of boredom.

I'll count it as effort when I see him actually take some of the advice to heart.


Give up part of the reward? They are all perfectly capable of getting that 1 point of Karma. I don't set the bar that high.


I wrote one of those things for the group once. Basically three pages of questions about your character. It was on my laptop before it crashed and had to get formatted. They've asked about it a couple of times, but I can't remember half the questions it had, as I felt particularly inspired the day I wrote it.


Good thing I'm not one of them. If his character has the dice pool in the relevant skill, whatever he says will be interpreted in the best possible way. Still, this requires that the face actually says something.


I already have no limit on out of game time. If he needs to take a half hour to think of something to say, we can call a soda break or something. But, if he does a face, he has to talk to people. It kind of comes with the job.


Possibly agoraphobia.

hey guys this is my face/stealth guy please tell me what you think of it
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?show...mp;#entry666597