Everyone has a Hobby. In fact, I'm insisting that every character in my group have a "Hobby Skill" of one sort or another.

What are your character's hobbies?

Hm, insisting on it might be harsh.

Anyway,
my troll hermetic likes to golf,
my elven shaman is into racing motorbikes
and my orc face is busy building a community of anarchists (not really a hobby, but all he does besides runs)

My technomancer plays guitar, and when running from apartments its probably the largest thing he has to get out with.

Since picking up an Emoti-toy (which is used for surveilance mostly, not social craziness), he's taken to modifying toys not just hardware but skinning them and creating a different customized look to them. So now I've got a toy hobbiest going.

Some others in our group, our dwarf throwing adept is a hoverboard enthusiast and spends alot of his money on upgrading his boards (he has 4 now I believe), or detailing them.

Our face is a culinary enthusiast, and spends out a large amount of money on real food. As well he has at least a couple contacts that just help him get access to the good stuff.

Our elven medic mage, is trying to gather supplies and to start his own clinic, to help in the barrens.

I have previously run a rigger, who did street races. (Unfortunatly before Arsenal, and price changes in BBB) so lots of towards tuning cars, and buying more cars. Last I played him he had a Eurocar, Limo (before 120,000 erratta), Dunebuggy, and a Sedan (used as Taxicab). Actually made a decent amount of money on the side betting on races, and participating.

It *HAD* been a strong suggestion until someone gave his hobby as "Killing People".

Then I put forward the "One Bad Apple" rule, and demand it now.

I suggested Taxidermy to him, and he's honestly thinking of that.

I'm already starting to plan out what happens if/when the Star/Corporate Security/Phone Police need to raid his place.

I had a mage whose hobby was clothes shopping, and a technomancer whose hobby was shooting up bliss. One cybermonster i never got to play would have had the hobby of staring at wallpaper patterns (he was not right in the head) but that campaign never took off, so he got shelved.

I have a player whose hobby is scuba diving, and another one who is a sucker for new and wiz gadgets; let us call him the ultimate early adopter.

I don't see why that isn't a good hobby, it's not like being a complete psycho excludes you from being a shadowrunner...
I used to have a covert ops/assassin who took up serial killing as a hobby, "to keep my skills high, I need to challenge them."
"Skinning Kittens Alive" There's another good one...
Of course, most of my characters have more normal hobbies, archery, cooking, gaming, getting high and staring at lava lamps...

My SR1 decker liked to spend his free time (which wasn't much, what with the program coding and deck modding) people watching at busy places like monorail stations.

My SR2 shark shaman had a thing for antiques. That hobby became a focal point of the magical group he helped found later in his career (they collected and stored/hid nasty magical objects). It also caused me to turn down several large cash payments for the chance to snag some rare items.

My other long-time character taught capoeria to troubled street kids at a youth center in, I think, Tacoma.

And I briefly had an Elf Face/Techie who was working on turning a section of the Barrens into her own personal militaried compound (I was permanently buying up Low and Squatter lifestyles with my spare cash). Free housing to any squatters that wanted to live there, get clean, and turn it into a proper community.

I'd have accepted "Skinning Kittens Alive" as a hobby.

But "Killing People" was his job. And, while there is something to be said about doing what you like, I'm trying to get characters that are more than just 2D Cliches, yaknow?

Well not all my characters had hobbies, but two do stand out.

Dancer - human (un)razor guy built during SR 1, no magic, no cyberware, just attributes and skills, and his two Browning Hi-Powers. His dirty little secret was that he was a SINner, his dayjob? Ballet Dancer.

Bambi - Troll Razor/Heavy Weapons Guy. His hobby was collecting Barbie dolls, even broke his professionalism once on a run on Vashon Island to steal 8 from the room of the little girl who's daddy we were supposed to ... "extract".

My ancient main character (drone rigger/face) is into shopping for clothes, clubbing, and street racing (the latter about balances out the expenses of the former two, more or less), as well as a bit into playing the guitar.

My vigilante streetsam is into bowling, as well as his militia, whom he spends most of his down time with. He also has a family.

My series of throwaway poser streetsams always is into whoring, drinking, and hanging around runner-themed bars pretending to be a pro.

My prison ork is into cage fighting.

My amnesiac guy finally is into wearing aluminium foil hats and conspiracy theorist trix sites.

Yes, I get that, but you can't enforce character depth, only request it, I mean, if I really didn't care about a hobby, but I had to have one, it would probably be "watching TV"...
That being said, I once had a troll in the party who collected butterflies, it created some memorable scenes...
But so did an other guy who called his guns Vera and Simone...

My Sasha keeps a kind of a youth center in her "penthouse", the neighborhoods kids get a place to hang around and she gets someone watching her house while she on a run.(she has high security locks in her study/bedroom).

Got inspired by the Crashpad lifestyle flaw in Sprawl Survival Guide.

Or at least thats in her background, now if i actually get to play one day, i would really have to play that one up.

Anyone take trolling Dumpshock as a hobby?

Blogging, and Forum trolling could be big ones any character. Sammy hits the gun blogs, Mage hits the paranormal sites, hacker hits everything...

See! That's perfect!

One of the Character's in my group is going to have playing the Shadowrun MMORPG as being his Hobby.

And even has a "Contact" in his Shadowrun Guild!

I always ask my players to get at least one skill that is not directly uable by shadowrunners to show they have / had a life other then being a shadowrunner. My character has mixology (Bartender) and Architecture, my wife has cooking and dancing, some others have fishing, hunting small game, gambling, accounting and stock trading.

And let us not forget Parkour!

It's more than a hobby, it's a way of life!

And quite possibly the coolest way to get around the city while avoiding traffic and pedestrians. ...well most pedestrians anyways.

Some of my characters have hobbies, others go a bit further in to the realms of causes and activism. I certainly agree with the goal of trying to make characters rather than collections of stats, attributes, and gear.

I have a character who spends a lot of time and money trying to drum up support for a Policlub called Sons of the Alamo. Another is a former IRA Terrorist (spike baby elf) who still trys to free Eire, only now from the Elves not the British. I have a Troll who does French Cooking, a Hacker who is a videogame fiend, a combat type who spends a fair amount of his free (and working time) whacked out on various drugs, A rigger who likes fishing (and more important telling fishing stories at the bar).

I start looking hard at a GM that 'insists' I make my character a certain way. I've had too many bad expirences with shit like that to look comfortably at that sort of meddling. Beyond an overview of the campaign and some basic open ended stuff (give me a background/don't give me a background... all characters must be from a Redmond street gang.... that sort of thing)... I don't want the GM making my character.

Never mind that most of my characters are pretty well developed and rounded anyway, and MOST of the recent ones I've made have been barrens street rats grown up, more interested in their next meal than any 'time waster'.

Of course, a certain level of professional is probably pretty into his job, his hobbies are in fact career skills and vice versa. Look at the spec ops guys who take up skydiving as a hobby (as most of them jump from planes, at least some of the time, for their 'work') or shooting. A HUGE number of soldiers hunt and sport shoot as hobbies, and any visit to a ISPC (sp?) event will find a huge percentage of the attendees are off duty cops, there for the fun of shooting.


In other words, if I feel a character needs a hobby to round the out, I'll give them one on my own. The GM forcing me to have one will get me to start looking around for a new GM. And because this post isn't long enough to meet union minimums: I view this much as I'd vew a GM strongly suggesting that a Colt Manhunter is not the right pistol for my Shadowrunner, and I'd be better off with a Predator. Its none o' his damn business.

I did this solely for the purpose of having at least *ONE* skill that's non-combat related with some characters, as I've had bad experiences where that was *ALL* the PC was good for, and nothing else.

And, again, it started out as a "Suggestion" until someone stated "Killing People" as a hobby. Again, I instituted the "One Bad Apple" rule due to that.

Anyhow, there's free Knowledge Skills. Not like I'm demanding a waste of Points or anything.

Throw it into "Gang Tag Recognition", and there you go. You watch Gang Wars and see who has what turf for a hobby. Maybe even have a miniature city in Trid with all the gang territories laid out, and update it as you drive along, getting shot at by the Star!

Sounds like you've had some control freak GM's, or GM's who get off on screwing the players over constantly.

What do I have...

My martial artist/cyber/escaped company guy likes to play piano, has a working relationship with his magical scientist contact(she's his age and they ended up getting together. They are in their mid 20s, and why would some folks that age around each other who actually LIKE each other not date? Are shadowrunners allergic to it?), and loves any old fighting games. He plays them often and scrounges around antique stores for them.

Half-body replaced elf(two legs and a torso), likes clubbing still(the way we play Dantes Inferno, there's an industrial-type level he fits in perfectly), and actually has a bit of a taste for S&M(we play R rated games, nothing described, but implied), but i don't think that would be a hobby. He was into body piercing before his torso was replaced, it's kind of hard to do now. Come to think of it, that character is more into figuring out how to further customize his cyberlimbs. That might be a hobby in and of itself. His friends have been trying to get him to broaden his horizons. I guess music is a hobby for him too; it's sort of prevalent in alot of my characters.

Aside from the few, "Why are you demanding anything from your Players" comments, seems like a good collection of Hobbies for 'Runners.

Honestly, I didn't think asking for some minor restriction would be such a big deal. OK, yes, Barrens kid doesn't have "Hobbies" as we think of them today, but he's gotta have something to pass the time, even if it's just Trainspotting.

For my "characters" from my stories (Which proves that I enforce my own rules on myself!), Jon "Money" Johnson is an avid hunter (Large and Awakened Game), listens to Classical Music (Loves The Rolling Stones), and studies Firearms. You pull a gun in his face, he'll tell you everything about it that there is to know (Especially if you do something stupid like leave the manual safety on.). I could argue that his stock portfolio is also a hobby, but that's how he started as a "Character", so that's "Work" to him. Actually, technically, I could say "Being a Johnson" could be his hobby.

Nas the Elven Wheelman is a Racer to the core, and knows and watches everything racing. He is also a huge Combat Cycle fan. Were he a common joe, he'd have his basement den decked out in the colours of his favourite team, and the High-Def Trid down there to watch every game.

All the above either explain combat skills, or are knowledge skills that round out a character, give me something to inturrupt with a CommCall, or incorporate some hidden bit of knowledge that somehow helps the group out, and embarrasses the hell out of the character!

"Damn it, now we need to find someone that knows the history of Lace Doilies from the Louis XIV era." "Uh, no, we, er, don't..." "You can't know about..." "Yeah... HEY! I had to fill out a course schedual at MIT&T, and that's all that was available!"

Right now im planning a character that has a thing for gambling, especially cardgames.. with poker as his favourite, however he lost his left arm due to a gambling debt (be careful with who you owe money) but it's still a work in progress

Gambling with a Ghoul?

Nah the mob, first time he missed a payment they took his index finger.. the next time his entire lower left arm, with threat that the next time take his jewels.. he didn't miss another payment

Well I'm the GM, my hobbie is tormenting players.....

Seriously though it isn't much to insist on a hobby when the knowledge points are free.

Also it can be fun to give them something to do in downtime AND, importantly, it's a way to develop them along with new NPC. The character gain the benifit of a handful of free contacts.

Though on the "only good at combat' think that's another issue. I don't let pure combat characters in, you have to be good at something on a run other than combat. Otherwise I've found the retarded combat players will actually sabatoge the sneaky players well laid plans just so they can fight (this learned from games of Alternity and Rifts with other GMs who let stupid combat only players in).

I had a character whose spare time was taken up with learning to fly and being the mechanic to a tbird we picked up. That and raising barghests. Character ended up a lot of skill in pilot and aerospace mechanic IIRC, and we used the vehicle in a run about twice.

...sounds like he and the Short One may have a common interest.

...seriously, as dense as she may be intellectually, KK is into several activities and interests including Gymnastics, Rollerblading, Skateboarding, Freestyle bikes, Japanese culture and traditions, and old Cowboy vids.

Violet follows the path of her Namesake from the LS novels and loves to tinker with electronics and machinery in her spare time. She is fascinated with cutting edge and exotic technology and keeps up with the latest in engineering trends. For her recreation Vi enjoys matrix games, in particular Miracle Shooter™ for which she has a lifetime subscription.

Hmm... my namesake had a hobby of collecting and brewing fine teas in his walk in closet room.

I had another character who was really into woodworking, particularly boxes.

I had a guy that collected elvish simsense porn (but don't all runners do that?)

Then i had another guy that collected BTL's. That one got a little weird. In the end, he ended up blowing his collection on one big chip-trip which resulted in dead PC.

Say no to drugs kids!!


I think my next guy will want to collect old Lego sets. I'm sure by 2070 Legos will be a thing of the past; taking a backseat to virtual replacements, so gettin a hold of the real stuff would prob be difficult.

If you're willing to pay the big bucks I've got a desktop forge with your name on it. "Of course they are genuine, would I lie to you?"

I run SR2, found I liked the idea of knowledge skills, but the implementation in our group (using the SR3 rules) never quite worked out (too many PCs with the hobby "urban combat: ambush locations"). The current house rule is that all PCs are given int x 2 points to go into Knowledge skills. Knowledge skills are defined: Any skill you couldn't get a Work Tax Deduction from in the modern day. This has led to some more detailed characters, though the two that stick out are:

Bloodied King: former high profile assassin for a military organization - Mixology

Karen: Imortal Night One (long story) - Ancient History

Those are just samples of course, but let me tell you, "Ancient History" takes on a whole new meaning when dealing with an Immortal Elf from the 4rth World.

My old elf gunslinger lived in the basement of a Catholic Church in the Barrens. Most of his free time (and a lot of his money) was spent keeping the church safe. Given that he was a former Catholic paramilitary from Ireland who got chased out, another hobby he had was driving down to the Tir Border every few weekends and harassing border patrols (never killed anyone doing that though). He was also an avid collector of antique guns.

Seraph: Mystic Adept Assassin [Female] - Literature, Weapons, Torture, Rape

Muspelheim: Mystic Adept Vampire Assassin/Hacker [Male] - Martial Arts, Metaphysics, Mythology (Scandinavian), Computer Science, Percussion Instruments & Vocals (Clean & Serpent Tongue)

Nightwing: Magician Necromancer/Medic [Female] - Spiritualistic Beliefs (Death &/vs. Life), Mythology (Scandinavian), Medicine (Herbal), Violin & Vocals (Soprano), Poetry

Nicholas Rhys: Adept Smith [Male] - Cutting Edge Tech (Weapons, Milspec Armor), Physical Science, Alloys & Composite Materials)


On a side note, the name Nicholas Rhys sounds very familiar to myself and everyone in my group, but none of us can figure out what from. If anyone knows where the name may have come from, it would be appreciated if you let me know.

Edit: Added hobbies I missed previously, and below quote & response.


I agree. Mostly. It is good to have suggestions for what would be more effective, as long as it remains a suggestion. As for my characters, they use:

Seraph: Rugar Thunderbolt customized for SA, among other things, & heavily customized pair of monofilimant swords.

Muspelheim: Heavily customized pair of monofilimant swords. Will not touch firearms (Gauss weaponry, lasers, flamethrowers, etc. are acceptable)

Nightwing: Will not use a weapon. Ever. Spellcasting not considered a weapon by her, despite her frequent killings.

Nicholas: Rugar Super Warhawk customized for SA, among other things. Customized Vibro Sword (claymore sized)

My original Covert Ops specialist was ex mafia, and actually took up Piano so he could infiltrate a politicians home, by teaching the politicians daughter piano.

My Ninja, was an obsessive compulsive killer, and had to roll willpower to not kill some-one on the course of a mission. He also was into japanese ink painting and calligraphy.

Astro, my french syrian hacker that got canned due to lack of time was basically into drugs and porn. She was great. She also liked naming her equipment, her commlink was called "My boyfriend"

Well of course the ninja would have to make those rolls, everyone knows that a ninja's main purpose is to flip out and kill everyone...

Don't forget Hobby Skill ''Electric Guitar.''

It's funny how writing what you know can come into play so often. Im almost afraid i overplay musical hobbies sometimes with my characters; they ALL tend to have knowledge skills in some kind of music, and a few of them can play an instrument. (I was a music journalist for several years in my mid 20s. Younger and i did play in a few very very VERY local little bands who did a couple of shows.) But i mean, it seems to fit well and music is all encompassing. (And im also guilty of videogame hobbies, since again, thats a big one for me, and wouldn't you know it, i also have written and write about games.)

This him?

My and my wife's favorite: late 20th century RPGs.... we had a pair of Orcs once who blew there entire savings on a MechWarrior and Earthdawn bookset.

My Gunslinger Adept: drinking sake.... lots of sake... and guns

Rigger: Drones and tattoos

Street Sam: ..... Akira Kurasawa films.... (he had a penthouse study full of Akira Kurasawa and other old samurai black and white films)
Also, bikes and drones.... which is how he later became more rigger than street sam.

Possibly, but I don't recognize the picture, or anything listed under the 'credits' section...

Of course, I seem to suffer from random memory loss, although I can usually recognize things once pointed out. Thanks for the link anyways - might be where some of the group knows the name from.

Several of my characters are Urban Brawl and Combat Biker fans, with appropriate knowledge skills (and occasionally wardrobes and tattoos).

What's up with the fascination of scandinavian mythology? (Just curious) Is it just the Asatrù (steemed from an islandic word, here we call it Asatro) or do you include things like "näcken" (naked dude who plays fiddle in streams and lure innocent people into dancing toward their watery graves) "skogs strået" (Mystical queen of the forest, beautiful from the front but when you see her back its its either a murky log or she got a furry tail.. she gets insulted by pointing her flaws out and being polite to her is considered good luck) "gårdstomten" (A dwarf with mystical powers looks somewhat like santa, but alot duller in colours and without the trademark laugh. treat him well and he watches over your domains, treat him badly and he'll end up killin' your cows and such) "älvor" (fairies that dances in the fields, some are benevolent, some are not..)

About hobbies, silly as it may sound.. smoking can be a hobby. It've been mine for quite some time.. ranging from trying different brands, trying to learn different tricks, buying pipes and fancy lighters, taking courses in rolling cigars and such..

Maybe Muspelheimr just likes Winternight.

Or he, being the goth he is, actually IS an Old Norse Gods cultist. I know people who believe in stranger things.


Interesting parallels to ancient greek and roman mythology, and gaelic mythology. And Pratchett (Hogfather!).

Besides, doesn't Iceland have an official advisor of fae affairs in their Minitry of Interior Affairs?

Why does the norse always get all the credit for the viking stuff, we other scandinavians were vikings to

Because Norse is easier to say than Scandi... Scandia... whatever you said...

Exactly.

While I enjoy mythology in general, particularly Scandinavian, my primary interest is in the Norse subset. Particularly the Aesir & Yggdrasil. If you have a good source for lesser-known Scandinavian myths, I would appreciate a link or reference. I'm also interested in a good source for Celtic myths, if you know one.

On a side note, one of the reasons both characters have similar interests is because I designed them together, they each have each other as contacts, and have been in a committed relationship for years. Nightwing also is Norwegian.




Not a cultist, not a goth (although people often confuse me as such) - simply interested.


All pantheons are essentially the same, when you really look at it. For example, compare Odin to Thoth, Thor to Zeus/Hercules (not the best example, but only one I can think of without reviewing the Greeks). They all have similar gods, similar lessens to be taught, similar myths, similar enemies of the gods, etc.


Never said you were not. The actual vikings are one of my least interests. Although a few interesting facts about them: The vikings where among the largest people of their time. Roughly average hight by todays standards. They also had a reputation for excessive cleanliness, bathing usually once a week.

Sorry Musphelheim.. I dont really know of any such sites/books in english, most of what I was talking about was tales I grew up with.. and I must admit I had quite some interest in Asatrù myself when I was younger (instantly able to recognize the ordeals inspired by the tales about Oden.. Odin)

Only if you take "piercing" literally - I could totally see welding on extra little hooks, rings with chains, and so on

DS

Hmmm.....i never thought of that

He didn't have many in his face before(he did his lip once, his ears, and his tounge, its more of a light hobby), but his torso he did a bunch of times. I suppose welded-on nipple rings and the like might look pretty wicked, come to think of it. And a torso is a bit stronger, so it could have some cool stuff done to it.